Shattered
by muhnemma
Summary: Bella never jumped and so the Cullens didn't return to Forks until three years after leaving, when they find Bella's grave. Thirteen years later they meet a mysterious boy who leads them to the vampiric Bella and to a war greater than they ever imagined.
1. Prologue

**Summary: **Bella never jumped and so the Cullens didn't return to Forks until three years after leaving, when they find Bella's grave. Thirteen years later they meet a boy who leads them back to Bella and to a war greater than they could ever imagine.

**Prologue**

Even as a vampire I never quite became accustomed to the smell and sight of blood. I could prepare myself for it before a hunt; fight back the instant wave of revulsion as a hot spurt of the crimson fluid hit the back of my throat. But nothing could have prepared me for the stench that hit me as I entered La Push. My throat clenched convulsively and the world began to dim and, for the first time since I had been stripped of my mortality seven years ago, I thought I would faint. The scent was cloying and overwhelming, seeming to seep into every pore of my skin, allowing me no sanctuary or escape. Finally my body took over where my mind could not function and my breathing grew gradually shallower until it ceased altogether.

La Push was burning. No one ran from the flames that consumed the houses. Where screams should have filled my ears, there was only the roaring of the fire. My mind tried to deny what I already knew instinctively; the lack of any kind of human noise coupled with the heavy smell of blood in the air could only mean one thing. The people of La Push – the friends who had taken me in after my change and accepted me as family – were dead. Murdered.

Later I would learn that it had been the work of vampires. I should have realised from the start: who else would have been powerful enough to destroy a pack of werewolves? Later I would scream until my voice filled the entire forest, hating myself for leaving my family to hunt. At that moment I was only aware of a powerful tearing sensation along the barely healed scars of the wound that Edward had inflicted on me the day he left. I wanted nothing more than to find the place where Jake lay, curl up next to him and die.

Jake. Ally, friend, _brother_. The thought of him sent a fresh wave of pain coursing through my body. A howl of agony erupted from my lips, bouncing off the trees. I could feel myself coming apart; I was about to shatter. I would have done had I not heard something that jolted me out of my misery. A whimper. Such a small sound that no human ears could ever have heard it, but to my preternatural hearing it was like a scream in an empty stadium. Someone was _alive. _

I followed the whimpers as they steadily grew louder and turned into screams. They led me to the small garden behind Jake's house, to the tree house he had built in a fit of excitement upon discovering that his wife was pregnant. I tried not to remember him as he had looked that day, his face alight with happiness as he eagerly chattered about his construction plans. Instead I focused on the squirming heap of blankets that lay in the corner of his creation. Peeling back a corner, I stared down into the tear streaked face of the boy who I had loved like a son for the past two years. Jake's son, Billy, named after his grandfather who had lived long enough to hold him before succumbing to cancer.

I picked him up and cradled him against my chest, uttering soothing, nonsensical words to calm him. For a moment I couldn't understand. How had he been passed over, how had he miraculously survived the slaughter that had claimed his entire family? Then a memory surfaced. Splashes of blood in the grass beneath the tree leading to a mangled, fabric covered pile that I hadn't thought to be human. It must have been Lizzie. She had sacrificed herself to lead the blood thirsty monsters away from her son.

Something stirred on the edge of my awareness. We were no longer alone; someone stood at the base of the tree. I detected no heartbeat and I knew that no one else could have survived, so it must be one of _them. _One of the demons who had murdered Billy's parents, my friends. Clearly I wasn't the only one who had been drawn by Billy's cries. Drawing the blankets tighter around him, I tucked Billy back into the corner and said, "You have to be quiet now. I'll be back for you soon." He regarded me with the wide, clear eyes of his father and for a moment it seemed as if he had a greater understanding of the danger than I realised.

I rose to my feet and turned to face the fight that awaited me.


	2. A Chance Encounter

Wow, thank you! I hadn't expected such a positive response. I really appreciated all of the encouraging reviews. Hopefully this chapter will live up to your expectations.

**Chapter One: A Chance Encounter**

**Thirteen Years Later**

**Billy's Point of View**

I grimaced as we screeched to a halt outside of school, shrinking away from the shocked looks of the kids already milling around. You'd think that a vampire with over seven centuries under his belt would have had time to refine his driving skills, but Bryce's lack of skill and coordination in a car was terrifying. As my heart wasn't somewhere in the vicinity of my throat and we hadn't hit any unfortunate cats, I counted today as a good day and hastily arranged my features into a smile. "That was great, Bryce!" What I had intended to be an enthusiastic congratulation came out as a frightened croak.

He grinned at me, flashing his perfectly straight, white teeth. "You think so, really?" There was a slight French accent to his voice today. Bryce wore accents like most people wear clothes, changing them according to the time of day, his mood, the weather. I had yet to find out in which country he was born and changed. His past was not a topic up for general discussion. In fact, there was no faster way to sour a mood in our house than to ask a simple question about his history.

I was about to reassure him that he was making a definite improvement, but was spared having to lie by the quickly growing crowd of giggling girls a few feet from the car. With his alabaster skin, mane of blonde hair and brown eyes that a girl in my math class once described as 'soulful', Bryce attracted female attention whenever he dropped me off at school. "I think you should get going," I said, nodding covertly towards the girls. Following my line of sight, he made an irritated noise in the back of his throat and nodded his agreement.

As I moved to get out of the car, Bryce grasped my arm. "Remember," he said, his eyes boring into mine, "if there is any trouble, if you feel the slightest bit uneasy, contact us immediately. I will have my phone at hand all day, as will Isabella and Marcus."

"You're worrying about nothing. There hasn't been an attack in months."

"Nevertheless, it would do much for my peace of mind if you promised to call at the first sign of trouble," he said sternly.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes. "I promise. Happy now?"

He released my arm. "Ecstatic."

As soon as I stepped out of the car and shut the door I turned away. Watching Bryce drive was almost as bad as experiencing it first hand, and I preferred to avoid it when I could. I had barely taken a step when a heavily bundled up figure hurried out from beneath a tree to meet me. "Hey Jeff," I said, looking down at my friend. At six foot two I had to look down at almost everyone.

He pulled away the scarf covering the lower portion of his face to grin at me. "Hey. Good Christmas?"

"Not bad. How about yours?"

He rolled his eyes. "Boring. Spent the whole holiday stuck in the house with nothing to do. I thought you were going to invite me round?"

I winced. Bella tried to make my life as normal as possible, but living with three vampires meant having to sacrifice certain aspects of my social life. Inviting tasty snacks to the house was one of these things. Although Bryce had only been a 'vegetarian' vampire for a tiny portion of his life, centuries of existence had taught him iron self control and so he was no danger to humans. Bella, unusually, survived without drinking human or animal blood. But Marcus, the newest member of our family, hadn't been a vampire for long and was consequently troubled with strong cravings. As a werewolf I smelled disgusting to him and so was in no danger; Jeff had no such guarantees of safety. "Sorry," I mumbled. "Marcus… got really sick. Bella quarantined the house until he got better."

"Oh, okay." Jeff sounded satisfied but as we hurried into the warm corridors of school I could tell that there was something else he wanted to say. After a few minutes of silence he said, "You don't talk about him much."

"Who?"

"Marcus."

A tight knot of anxiety began to form in the pit of my stomach. Our way of life depended on a delicate web of lies, but I was a terrible liar. I tried to avoid talking about my 'family' whenever possible. "There's not much to say about him," I said, shrugging.

"You've never really said why he's living with you," Jeff persisted. "Is he a relative, an old family friend, what?"

"He's our cousin, Uncle Bryce's kid." I was impressed with how easily the lie rolled off my tongue. Confidence bolstered, I ventured more detail. "He graduated college not long ago, and he's staying with us until he can find a job."

A grin broke out over Jeff's face. "So he's not… your sister's boyfriend?"

I had to clamp down quickly on the laughter that threatened to bubble from my throat. So _that's _what this was about. I should have known. Jeff had had a crush on Bella since she had given me a ride to school on the first day of the semester. I could hardly blame him; he wasn't the first of my friends to obsess over her and he certainly wouldn't be the last. To human eyes Bella was the personification of perfection, a goddess among mortals. I had tried to let Jeff down gently, pointing out that there was an age difference (and a greater one than he knew, for while Bella would always look eighteen in September she had turned thirty eight) but he remained smitten. "No, he's not her boyfriend. Bella doesn't date, remember?" I reminded him gently.

Jeff's grin faltered slightly before he recovered. "Things can change," he said cheerfully.

Settling back into the rhythm of school life was easier than I had thought it would be. During holidays we always took a vacation to the largest, most deserted forest in reach so that we could 'stretch our legs', as Bryce called it. We raced each other through trees, tested our strength and played games at speeds that human eyes wouldn't have been able to keep track of. It was usually difficult to adjust to any kind of discipline after all that freedom.

At lunch time I thought briefly about calling Bella. If it was difficult for me to come back to school, it was even harder for her to let me go. Calling her would let her know that I was safe and in no danger, but she would feel intensely guilty that I'd had to call when other people my age could get through the day without having to contact their parents to let them know that they were still alive. After twenty minutes of arguing with myself I switched my phone off and thrust it into my pocket.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened until the final class. Mr. Green, our aging math teacher, had just begun his usual monotone drone when the door swung open. The scent hit me before I had a chance to look at who had entered the room. It was a horribly familiar smell, burning my nostrils with its icy sweetness. Something about my expression must have given away my fear and disgust, because Jeff leaned over and said, "Are you alright? You're really pale." I nodded and waved him off, needing to concentrate on what had just walked through the door.

Two vampires. One male, one female. The male stood at the same height as me but wasn't as well built. If it came down to a fight I might be able to hold him off long enough for help to arrive. The female was tiny but looked like she could move quickly if she wanted to. As she spoke quietly to Mr. Green, the male's nostrils suddenly flared and his head whipped around to face me. His eyes fell on me and I realised two things. Firstly, he hadn't been aware of the presence of a werewolf but he certainly was now. Secondly, his eyes were gold. Gold was good. Gold meant that the vampire was a 'vegetarian'.

That didn't mean that I was safe, but the immediate danger was lessened. My hand hit the air as the vampires turned from the teacher's desk to find seats. "May I be excused, Mr. Green? I don't feel so good." He appraised me in silence, taking in my pale complexion and panicked eyes. Finally he nodded once and, after scooping up my bag, I forced myself to walk calmly to the door. As soon as I was in the corridor and out of sight I broke into a run.

As I ran I pulled out my phone and punched in Bryce's number. It rang once, twice, and then he answered. "Billy?" He sounded worried. "Is everything alright?"

"No, everything is _not _alright. There are a couple of you-know-whats here."

I heard his sharp, unnecessary intake of breath and then a soft curse. "How many?"

"Two. I don't think they're _them. _I don't think they're here for me at all. The male looked surprised to see me and I got a look at his eyes – they're gold."

"A good sign, but I find it difficult to believe that their presence here is a horrible coincidence." A brief pause, then he asked, "Where are you?"

I had just burst through the front doors and emerged into the feeble January daylight. "Out front."

"I will be there shortly. After I have collected you we must inform Isabella. She may want to leave immediately, or she may decide on… a more _aggressive _course of action. _Be careful._" With that final warning he hung up.

I didn't like the thought of having to leave town and start a new life _again, _but far more disturbing was the idea of my family engaged in yet another fight. I tried not to think about the vampires and the danger they presented while I waited for Bryce, but my mind would dwell on nothing else. Time seemed to distort and extend, making seconds feel like hours and minutes feel like days. I felt completely exposed and vulnerable on the sidewalk, with nothing to hide behind or defend myself with. I had just made up my mind to call someone, _anyone, _to take my mind off the wait when a voice from behind startled me.

"Hello."

I turned to face the male vampire. His eyes were curious but guarded and his hands hung loosely at his sides. "I think I gave you something of a fright in class," he said slowly. "Are you-?"

"Stay away from me, vampire," I warned.

Surprise flickered briefly in his eyes before they became guarded again. "You know what I am?"

"Of course," I spat. "And _you _know what _I _am."

"This may seem difficult to believe, but I don't mean you-" The vampire's words were lost in the screech of tires that announced Bryce's arrival. Relief flooded me as he sped from the car to stand protectively by my side. The surprise in the vampire's eyes turned into blank shock: to happen across a werewolf was unusual, but to find a werewolf with a vampiric companion was unheard of.

"Into the car, Billy, while I talk with the young man," Bryce ordered.

"But-"

"William!"

"I want to hear!" I protested.

"Do you think she would forgive me if I allowed you to stay?" he snapped. "You can hear perfectly well from the car."

Reluctantly, I obeyed. The thought of Bella's wrath should she discover that I remained too close to a strange vampire was enough to propel me into the car. As soon as I had sat down and shut the door, the vampire began to speak. "I don't mean you any harm. I apologise if I scared your friend earlier."

"He said you have a companion," Bryce said, ignoring the apology. "Is she equally as friendly?"

"My sister, like the rest of my family, is like you. We don't hunt humans." The vampire's eyes flicked briefly to me before returning to Bryce. "Or werewolves."

"'Family,'" Bryce repeated, his voice quiet. "There are more of you?"

The vampire nodded. "My father is always eager to make contact with vampires who share our lifestyle. I'm sure he would want to meet you."

"I would have to consult with _my _family before making that decision."

"Of course," the vampire nodded. If he was surprised at the revelation that Bryce was a part of a family of vampires he hid it well. He pulled pen and paper from his pocket and swiftly wrote something, which he then passed to Bryce. "Directions to our house," he explained. Once again his eyes turned to me. "_All _of you would be welcome."

Bryce nodded, turned on his heel and strode swiftly to the car. As we sped away I could feel the vampire's eyes burning into the back of my head. "Well?" I asked. "Did you get a look into his head? Was he telling the truth?"

"He was being honest. He truly means us no harm, and neither does this family of his. But…"

"But?" I prompted.

"We have another problem. I saw Isabella's face in his mind."


	3. Family

Again, thank you so much for all of your feedback. To those of you who are curious about Bryce, Marcus and their relationship with Bella, more information is coming up in this chapter and the couple that will follow.

**Chapter Two: Family**

**Bella's Point of View**

The first day was always the worst. Any parent would find it immensely difficult to separate from their child if they knew they were in great danger, but being a vampire made it a hundred times harder. My mind, working so much faster than a human's, provided me with a dozen new ways that Billy could be hurt or killed every second. Those imaginings weren't extravagant flights of fancy designed to torture me, they were very real possibilities. But what else could I do other than wave him off to school every morning and pray that he returned whole and unharmed? Danger was a fact of our lives. I couldn't lock him up in the house, although this would surely be more beneficial to his health, because to do so would be to deny him vital human experiences, and I had promised myself that I would give him as normal a life as possible.

It was all a matter of waiting. I would wait for Billy to come home without having to call him or sneak into his school to check that he was alright. I would even allow Bryce to drive him home that afternoon, just to prove that I could delay the time of reunion without losing my mind. Then over the following weeks I would wait for the all consuming panic to die down to a low buzz of anxiety lodged in the back of my mind. Until that time there was another pressing problem that needed my attention.

Marcus. As a newborn my craving for blood was almost nonexistent, so I had very little idea of what he suffered in denying himself human blood. Bryce had once tried to explain to me the overwhelming desire fledgling vampires experienced to hunt, but it was incomprehensible to me. I knew without having to be told that being so young made matters even worse for Marcus. He was only twenty-one when I changed him; he hadn't had time to learn self control. Some days were good, some were bad. Today was one of the bad days.

He had retreated to his bedroom in the early hours of the morning, presumably to hide beneath his sheets. Marcus seemed to equate the cravings that plagued him with human illness, and so attempted to ease his situation through traditional remedies for illness. Although he could not sleep and received no warmth from his wool blankets the familiar surrounding seemed to comfort him. For the whole morning I had been able to hear his agonised groans but was reluctant to go to him as I was unsure how he felt about me today. His opinion of me could change quite suddenly and violently; at times he revered me, but he could also despise me for what I had done to him.

"Bella."

The whisper carried through several rooms to reach my ears. Beneath the obvious pain I could hear the note of pleading, and I couldn't deny Marcus whatever help I could offer. Setting my book aside, I hurried to his room and opened the door just far enough to poke my head inside. The heavy curtains were drawn against the cold daylight and Marcus's white hair and pale blue eyes seemed to gleam in the darkness. His pure, angelic face echoed hundreds of thousand, perhaps even millions, of stained glass windows and religious drawings throughout the world. Even when he removed his contacts and his eyes shone scarlet he retained a quality of innocence. "Is there anything you need?" I asked.

His bark of laughter was devoid of any humour. "Yes, there's something I _need_. That's the problem."

"I meant is there anything I can do for you."

He left the bed and crossed the room so quickly that I scarcely saw the movement. One moment he was perched on the mattress, the next his face, filled with a burning hatred, was inches from mine. "_You_?" he spat. "What could _you _possibly do for me? Haven't you already done enough?"

I turned away quickly, not wanting him to see the pain in my eyes that I hadn't quite learned how to hide. I loved Marcus as I would a brother and it hurt me deeply when he looked at me with so much hate. Despite how much his words hurt me, I wouldn't deny them or attempt to defend myself if he started flinging fists rather than words, because I deserved his anger. I was the one who had brought him into this world of near constant suffering, and if hurting me made him feel better in the slightest then I would endure it.

As I turned to leave, however, he suddenly grabbed me and pulled me against his bare chest. His grip was iron; the only way I could have broken it was by breaking his arms. "Don't go," he pleaded, burying his face into my hair. "I don't hate you. I need you."

"I'll do anything I can to help you," I murmured against his skin.

"Come to bed." He must have felt me stiffen for he hurriedly added, "Not like that! I know you don't want _that. _It's just that things are clearer when I'm close to you. It's easier to remember why I can't leave the house and rip out the throat of the first person I see."

I remained silent for a moment, considering quickly. I wasn't comfortable with too much physical intimacy with certain members of my family. It was fine with Billy because it felt natural, like embracing a son. Bryce and Marcus, however, were an entirely different matter. In his last family (which had functioned more like a pack of animals) Bryce had been a much sought after mate because of his age and power. His belief that I secretly cherished a desperate desire for him had taken several years to disappear, and I didn't want to do anything to encourage its return. Whether he loved me or hated me Marcus was always very possessive, believing that he had some sort of claim over me because I had changed him. As with Bryce I didn't want to do anything to encourage this belief, but I also couldn't deny him anything that would ease his pain.

"Okay," I finally agreed. "But this doesn't mean I've changed my mind about the other thing."

Marcus smiled widely and scooped me up into his arms, ignoring my vehement protests. Carefully, almost reverently, he placed me on the bed and crawled on top of me, not allowing his full weight to sink onto me although I was far stronger and could certainly support him. Pressing his face against my neck, he breathed slowly and deeply. I knew that he took comfort in my scent just as I took comfort in Billy's, for all that he was supposed to smell disgusting to my kind.

We lay like that for hours. Marcus gradually relaxed until his body sank onto mine completely, while I desperately wished to be somewhere, _anywhere, _else. Finally I heard the front door open and close and the low murmur of Bryce and Billy's voices. My smile disappeared as I glanced at the clock; they weren't due back for at least another hour. "I have to go," I said, gently pushing Marcus off me. "They're back early. Something must be wrong." He nodded and reluctantly rolled onto his back, allowing me to get back to my feet.

I found Bryce and Billy in the kitchen, the latter stuffing cookies into his mouth while the former watched with disgust. "You won't have room for dinner," I reprimanded gently, and Billy spun around to face me.

"Bella!" he cried, spraying me with a shower of cookie crumbs. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, and quickly swallowed his mouthful before enfolding me into a hug. I relished the embrace, breathing in his scent deeply. I could definitely smell the wolf, but beneath that there was the scent of his shampoo, the sweetness of the cookies he had just eaten and something that was distinctly Billy.

Finally I forced myself to step away to check for any sign of injury. "Are you alright?" I asked quietly. "You're back earlier than I expected."

Billy rolled his eyes and reached for the cookies again. "I'm fine, _mom._ I just had a bit of a surprise."

I raised my eyebrows. "A surprise?"

"Perhaps I should explain to Isabella," said Bryce.

I glanced at him, read the expression on his face and nodded. "Marcus is having one of his off days," I said as I placed my hands on Billy's shoulder and steered him towards the door. "I know speaking to you would cheer him up."

"Alright," he agreed reluctantly. "But I'm leaving if he tells me how bad I smell again."

"And don't eat the entire pack!" I called after him. "I bought steak for dinner." I waited until I heard the door to Marcus's room shut and then turned to Bryce. "What happened?"

Bryce hesitated before saying, "I don't want you to panic. The situation isn't as bad as it at first may seem."

"Just tell me, Bryce."

"Billy has two new classmates and neither of them is human. _But,_" he continued, seeing my eyes widen in panic, "they claim that they mean us no harm and I got a good look into the male's mind. He means what he says."

"They're not with _them_?" I whispered.

He shook his head. "They don't even hunt humans. They are – what do you call us? – 'vegetarians.'"

I sagged against the counter in relief. For a moment I had envisioned a horrible scenario: slaughtering these two vampires and then having to uproot Billy to another city yet again. Bryce handed me a piece of paper containing an address written in an elegant hand. "What is this?" I asked.

"Directions to their house," he explained. "Apparently there are more than just the two of them: they have a family. I said I would have to consult with my own family before accepting their invitation to visit."

I groaned. A family complicated things. These two vampires might mean us no harm, but there was no telling how the others might feel about us. "We need to meet them, obviously. It's vital that we ascertain that the others are as friendly," I said.

"I think, in this case, it might be wise for you to remain here while I meet them. You know I will defer to your authority," he nodded politely in my direction, "but this situation may be more dangerous for you than it is for me or Marcus."

Frowning, I asked, "Why? You said they weren't with them – I don't see how I would be in any more danger than you or Marcus would be."

He considered me for a moment in silence. "Isabella…" he began hesitantly. "Have you been entirely truthful with me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You once told me that you have never belonged to another family of vampires. Is that true?"

I nodded. "You know I lived with the pack Billy belonged to before meeting you. They took me in from the moment I was bitten. What does that have to do with anything?"

"You know how my power works, Isabella," Bryce said, pinching the bride of his nose lightly in concentration. "I do not see the fleeting, I see the integral. When I looked into this vampire I saw _you_. I saw your face, I even smelled you."

This took a moment to sink in. I couldn't believe it, because if it was true it could only meet one thing. There was only one family of vampires who would remember me without wanting to kill me. "What did he look like?" I asked weakly.

"Pardon?"

"The vampire, the male. What did he look like?"

Bryce looked at me strangely, clearly wondering how this detail could be important to me after what he had just revealed. "Almost exactly the same height as Billy. Golden eyes, obviously, and bronze coloured hair. He can read minds, too. I could feel him trying to penetrate mine."

The life that I had constructed so carefully over the last thirteen years was falling apart before my eyes. Memories that I hadn't allowed myself to think about for twenty years were beginning to resurface, and an old wound threatened to tear open. I could hear Bryce's panicked voice calling my name as I crashed to the floor.


	4. A Formal Introduction

Just to clarify, the events of the prologue take place seven years after the Cullens left and Bella was turned into a vampire. The rest of the story takes place thirteen years after the prologue, meaning that Bella has been a vampire and hasn't seen the Cullens for twenty years.

**Chapter Three: A Formal Introduction**

**Edward's Point of View**

I was anxious as afternoon slowly turned into evening. There was so much about the vampire I had met earlier on that unsettled me. I had gleamed very little from his mind before he had erected mental walls to keep me out, so I knew next to nothing of his life and motivations. That he could hide his thoughts from me by sheer force of will was in itself worrying as that kind of mental power took centuries to accumulate, which meant we were dealing with a much older vampire. Then there was this family of his. Exactly how many of them were there? Although Carlisle always consulted us, final decisions were always in his hands. The vampire had spoken as if he would have to defer to the decision of another, just as we do with Carlisle, in the matter of meeting us. Was the head of his family even older, more powerful?

And why would not just one vampire but a whole family of them risk their lives to protect a _werewolf_? There was something very familiar about the boy's face. Vampire memory is not like human memory. Memories of our immortal existence are preserved perfectly, like photographs in an album. I had no doubt that if I searched my memory I would discover why I recognised the boy, but I had a suspicion that his face belonged to an album marked "Forks" and I wouldn't – _couldn't_ – open it.

Alice was equally as frustrated. The werewolf's presence meant that she couldn't see whether the vampire and his family would choose to visit us or ignore us entirely. She spent the afternoon in an unusually subdued mood, staring at the television although I knew her mind was elsewhere. As the sky began to darken she suddenly sat upright, her wide eyes staring into the distance. "He's coming!" she gasped. "That vampire you met. He will be here any minute."

Carlisle set his book aside as all of us leaned forwards, staring expectantly at Alice. "I thought you couldn't see his future?" said Carlisle.

"I couldn't," said Alice, shrugging. "Perhaps he's far away enough from the dog that he doesn't interfere with his future."

I opened my mouth to ask exactly when he would be arriving but was spared the trouble by a gentle rapping on the door. As one, we rose to our feet. I did my best to ignore the pang in my chest as Esme slipped her hand into Carlisle's and Jasper moved to stand protectively next to Alice. As the head of the family and our representative, Carlisle was the one to open the door and invite the vampire inside.

Although this afternoon the vampire had been attired normally, now he looked distinctly out of place. His pants were dark and tight fitting, and the garment he wore on the upper half of his body was best described as a silk tunic. The purpose of this outfit was twofold: firstly to impress, secondly to display his powerful frame, built along the same line as Emmett's. As he entered the house he scrutinised each of us in turn, nodding politely when his eyes fell on me.

"Our son mentioned that you might be visiting," said Carlisle. "I am Carlisle and this is my wife, Esme. Our children are Edward, who you have already met, Alice and Jasper." He pointed to each of us in turn as he spoke. "We have two more but they're away hunting for the week."

"I am Bryce," the vampire said, shaking the hand that Carlisle offered.

"Edward tells us that you have a family," said Esme. "Will they not be joining us tonight?"

"Isabella will be coming along later. Marcus," here he grimaced, "will not be leaving the house tonight. He is a newborn, you see, and some days he finds it difficult to control himself. As for William," he spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "That is for Isabella to decide."

"Is she your leader, Isabella?" asked Jasper.

"In a manner of speaking. Marcus obeys her because she was the one who changed him, and he is deeply loyal to her. She allowed me to join her on the understanding that she always has the final say over decisions concerning the boy's welfare. But on matters that do not directly concern William she allows me a decision." His eyes flicked briefly to me before returning to Carlisle. "For example," he continued, "it was my decision to come here tonight to prepare you to meet her."

"Prepare us?" asked Alice "Do we have to follow certain rules or something?"

Marcus sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. I got the fleeting impression that he couldn't quite meet our eyes. "May we sit down?" he asked eventually.

"Of course," said Carlisle, and shepherded us back to where we were sitting before Bryce's arrival. When we were all seated we fell silent, looking at Bryce expectantly and waiting for him to begin.

After a long silence he began hesitantly. "Isabella asked me to prepare you because she thought that meeting her in the flesh might come as something of a shock." He raised his eyes from the floor and stared directly at me. "You see, you knew Isabella a long time ago. Only you knew her as Bella and back then she was human."

My family's thoughts slammed into me. Although the room was completely silent, my mind rang with cries of shock and disbelief. I couldn't have separated one thought from another if I had tried. With a great force of will I shut all thoughts but my own from my head. Only then did I hear the loud tearing which, upon looking down, I discovered was my hand slowly ripping the arm off the chair I was sitting in. "Impossible," I said, my voice cold and emotionless. It _was _impossible. I had seen Bella's grave. Alice had visited Charlie and told me of his grief. "Bella is dead. I saw her grave; we all did."

"It's true," added Alice quietly. "I spoke to her dad years ago. He told me she had been murdered."

Without speaking, Bryce reached into his pocket and brought out what looked like a folded piece of paper, which he passed to Alice. "Is this not the Bella you knew?" he asked gently. Alice unfolded the paper and gasped, her face contorting with pain and surprise. Jasper eye's widened, and he carefully extracted the paper from Alice's hands and passed it to Esme and Carlisle.

"Edward…" Esme murmured as she looked at it. "Edward, this is her."

"No."

"Edward, please," said Carlisle. "You have to look at this." He placed the paper in my lap and stepped away. For a long time I refused to look down. Bella couldn't be alive and a vampire, she just _couldn't. _If she was, God knows what she had suffered on her own for so many years. She may have even had to endure the agonising change alone. I could have gone to her, begged for forgiveness. If by some miracle she agreed to take me back then we could have had so many years together, could have built a life of our own. So Bryce couldn't possibly be right. He was mistaken or had been tricked by someone masquerading as Bella. Whatever was on that piece of paper couldn't possibly prove that Bella was still alive, and I just had to look at it to confirm what I already knew to be true.

It was a photograph. It couldn't have been taken more than a few months ago. In the centre, beneath a brightly coloured banner proclaiming "Happy Birthday", stood the werewolf, William, his face smeared with cake and alight with a comical expression of surprise. To his side, his head thrown back in laughter, was a young man with a shock of white hair. The only other person in the picture was a woman who looked like she had barely reached adulthood. Her mouth was pressed into a tight line of disapproval but affection and amusement shone from her eyes. The lines of her face were too perfect to be human, but it was undoubtedly Bella.

I ran a finger over her long hair, my heart clenching. My chest was constricting so tightly I was amazed that I could breathe, but I managed to choke, "How?"

"It may be a painful story to hear for those who care about her," said Bryce quietly.

"Please tell us," pleaded Esme. "We need to know."

Bryce nodded. "It happened twenty years ago. She was being hunted by another vampire. Isabella has never told me the full story, but I know this vampire wanted revenge for the death of her mate and the only thing that would satisfy her was Isabella's death."

"Victoria," I hissed, my hands clenching convulsively.

"You know her?" asked Bryce, clearly surprised.

"I killed her mate." That explained why I had never been able to track her down. She had been in Forks all along. A fresh wave of pain and guilt threatened to overcome me as I realised that I had left Bella without any kind of protection.

"Well," continued Bryce, "this Victoria set her sights on torturing and murdering Isabella. Fortunately Isabella had befriended a werewolf and his pack had been trying to track down Victoria for some time, so she wasn't completely without protection. They kept watch over her house and one of the pack was never far away from her."

"So how did Victoria get through?" asked Jasper.

"Newborns," said Bryce grimly. "Victoria created a dozen of them and sent them off to battle the werewolves. The leader of the pack ordered one of them to stand guard over Isabella's house, but he was young and eager for the fight. When he arrived on the battlefield the pack realised the danger Isabella was in and hurried to her house, but by then it was already too late. She had been bitten several times. They dispatched Victoria and then took Isabella away to care for her during her change.

"It was obvious that she wouldn't be able to return to her father. Isabella's sheets were covered in blood after her time with Victoria. The werewolves just added a couple of things. They shredded the clothes she had been wearing and left them by the side of the bed, then broke the lock on the front door to make it seems as if an entry had been forced. It appeared-"

"Stop," said Jasper, his voice harsh. For the first time I noticed that Alice had buried her face in her hands and was gently rocking backwards and forwards.

"Poor Bella," she whispered. "Poor Charlie."

Esme's eyes were blank as she leaned against Carlisle for support. "That poor man," she murmured. "I can't imagine what he must have gone through, believing that his daughter had been murdered in such a hideous way."

"They searched for her extensively," continued Bryce in a far gentler tone. "When a year passed with no sign of a body they held a funeral for her, but the coffin they buried was empty."

During the long silence that followed I continued to block my family's thoughts, but one of Alice's managed to slip through. _Why didn't she search for us? Why did she stay all alone? _I already knew the answer and it almost killed me. Bella had never tried to find us because I had told her that she wasn't wanted.

"What did Bella do?" asked Carlisle. "Where did she go after she had been changed?"

Bryce shook his head. "Isabella told me to tell you the circumstances of her change. Anything you want to know about her life from then up until now you will have to ask her personally. _If _you want to meet her. She asked me to tell you that she won't come if you do not wish it."

"Of course we want to see her!" cried Alice, springing to her feet. "Where is she? Can we get her here now? We can't let her slip away from us again, we can't!"

"Don't worry, Alice. I'm here."


	5. History

Sorry it took me longer than usual to update. My fiancé infected me with his cold germs so I've spent most of the last few days in bed. A lot of back-story for Bella and Bryce in this chapter, hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

**Chapter Four: History**

**Edward's Point of View**

There she was, the woman from the photograph. I couldn't quite bring myself to think of her as Bella. She was too perfect, too inhuman. The flesh that I remembered as wonderfully soft looked as if it would no longer yield beneath my touch. She was Erato sculpted in marble, pristine skin gleaming in the dim electric light. I watched Alice bound towards her, coming to a halt a bare inch away and tentatively raising her arms. The statue smiled and I caught a fleeting glimpse of Bella beneath the frozen face as the two women embraced.

"Dear Bella," murmured Esme as Alice relinquished her hold and allowed our mother to take her place. Carlisle beamed down at the woman who he had once been prepared to accept as a daughter. I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms and tangle my fingers in that long hair. If I could do that, if I could press my lips against her throat and breathe in her intoxicating scent, then perhaps I could accept that Bella truly was here and, in a manner of speaking, alive. A myriad of reasons held me back, the greatest being that she probably hated me for leaving her defenceless against Victoria and she might still believe that I felt nothing for her. There was also a clear warning in Bryce's eyes when he looked at me. Jasper, hands thrust deep into his pockets, hung back with me, clearly unsure of his place in this reunion.

Alice took Bella by the elbow and steered her to the seat closest to Bryce's. As she walked, her eyes met mine for the briefest of moments and I saw a flash of pain there. I wanted to say something – greet her, apologise, beg for forgiveness – but my tongue was a useless lump of led in my mouth. Then she dropped her gaze and seated herself next to her companion, and the moment passed.

"Where have you been?" Alice asked. "What have you been doing all these years? You have to tell us _everything._"

"Alice," Carlisle reprimanded lightly. "She doesn't need to explain anything to us."

Bella smiled at him. "It's alright, really. I'll answer any questions you have."

Alice frowned. "Oh. I'm not sure what to ask first." She paused for a long moment before asking, "Why do both of you wear contacts?"

"That's the most important question you can think of?" Jasper chuckled.

"I wear them out of vanity," explained Bryce. "Marcus and Bella have no choice in the matter. It becomes obvious that they are not human when they neglect to wear them."

This made sense for Marcus. As a newborn his eyes would still be scarlet. But why would Bella need them? Unless, I thought with sudden panic, she preyed on humans rather than animals. As one we looked to Bella expectantly. By way of response she removed her contacts and allowed us to see her eyes, and Alice couldn't quite stifle her gasp. They were almost completely black, with only tiny slithers of white framing the darkness. It was disconcerting to look into them, and yet I was compelled to hold my gaze. It was like staring into the clearest night sky only to find that the stars had been extinguished.

"How long has it been since you last hunted, Bella?" asked Carlisle quietly.

She smiled, but there was no humour in it. "About thirteen years."

We absorbed this in silence. To go two weeks without hunting was uncomfortable. To go a month was physically painful. But thirteen _years_? "Why?" asked Alice in a whisper. "_How?"_

The same humourless smile. "I couldn't leave Billy on his own when he was younger and there was no way I would ever take him hunting with me. The first year," she looked down, shuddering, "was hell. I can't even begin to describe it. But after that it started to get easier. I don't crave blood in the same way that you do, so I just had to conquer my physical need for it. Besides, there are some benefits to not hunting."

"Such as?" asked Jasper, leaning forwards eagerly.

"She is far stronger than any of you," said Bryce. "If things had been different, if you had been hostile, she could have fought and killed three of you on her own."

"I've never heard of anything like it before," murmured Carlisle.

Bella laughed. "I'm the only vampire who has been stupid enough to try it."

"We have a theory," said Bryce, shrugging. "The longer Isabella denies herself, the closer the vampire comes to the surface and the further the human is pushed back. She is constantly at the height of her physical powers in preparation for the hunt."

"I can't imagine it," said Esme.

"You caused yourself so much pain for a werewolf?" asked Jasper incredulously.

Bella shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I owed it to him. It's my fault he has no parents."

"Isabella!" said Bryce, and although his tone was gentle I heard a hint of steel in his voice. I sensed we were hearing the beginning of a long running argument. "What happened to Jacob and Lizzie and the rest of the pack was _not _your fault."

"Are you trying to tell me that they would have bothered with the pack if they could have followed my scent?"

"Are _you _trying to tell _me _that the Brotherhood would have allowed a large pack of werewolves to survive untouched?"

They glared at each other in silence, the air between them sparking with tension. After a long, uncomfortable moment Alice asked, "Who or what is the Brotherhood?"

Bryce looked at her in surprise. "You have never heard of them?" When she shook her head he looked questioningly at the rest of us, and we each responded similarly. "I find it amazing that a family of your size has never drawn their attention. I wonder how you have been so lucky," he said contemplatively. "The Brotherhood of Blood originated in Paris some time in the eighteenth century. They hold the view that humans are lesser beings that should be forced into subservience as slaves and food, and envision a glorious revolution that will bring this about. To realise this dream they travel the world hunting lone vampires to bring to their cause. Those who refuse to join the Brotherhood are killed."

We all recoiled in horror, and I was stunned to see a rare expression of anger flicker over Carlisle's usually serene features. "You've met them, this Brotherhood?" he asked.

Bryce smiled grimly. "I was one of them."

Bella rose abruptly from her seat. "You tell the story," she muttered. "I can't." She strode to the door, yanked it open and disappeared into the gathering gloom. Before I realised it I was on my feet, panicked at the thought that Bella was walking out of my life.

Alice grasped my arm. "Don't," she said gently. "It won't help. She's not running away, she just needs to be on her own."

Reluctantly, I sat down again. My mind conjured images of Bella alone and upset in the surrounding trees, blinking back tears that would never fall. It was a few seconds before I realised that Bryce was speaking again. With a great effort of will I forced myself to concentrate on what he was saying.

" – came across the scent of a vampire. We followed it, but the trail disappeared suddenly at La Push. Isabella has a marvellous power, you see." He smiled enviously. "She can disguise herself completely. She can block her mind, scent – she can even become invisible. Not in the way that you might think. She is still visible, but eyes seem to slide over her without seeing her. When we lost the scent I continued to track Isabella using traditional human methods. The rest of the Brotherhood remained in La Push.

"Several hours later, having failed to find Isabella, I returned to La Push. The vampires had already moved on. The entire pack and their families had been killed. I was about to leave and catch up with the Brotherhood when I smelled it. Isabella's scent was nearby and strong. I tracked her to a tree house and waited for her at the foot of the tree, ready to offer her the usual choice: join us or die."

Even as I was enthralled with the story a part of me wondered how he could speak so calmly about such a horrific event. The slaughter of men, women and children by vampires who he had presumably viewed as family. I could not forgive myself for the murders I committed during my rebellious period, and I had killed people whose thoughts had dripped with viciousness and murder. The people of La Push had been innocent, and yet Bryce spoke about their deaths with a detachment that was unnerving. For a moment I understood how he had once viewed – and possibly still did view – humans. They weren't children, siblings, parents, friends or lovers. They were cattle.

"Obviously Bella refused," said Carlisle. "And at that time she still hunted, so she hadn't developed the abnormal physical power she has now. So why didn't you kill her?"

"Isabella did not refuse because I did not offer her the choice," said Bryce. "I admit that I was intensely curious about her. Before I met her I believed that her alliance with the werewolves was nothing more than an uncomfortable but necessary truce. When I came face to face with her, saw the fury and sadness in her eyes, I realised that it was much more than that. I wanted to know how such a strong bond had formed between enemies. So I used my particular ability to find out."

"What-?" began Alice.

"It is similar to your power," interrupted Bryce, nodding to me, "but far more powerful. When you invade a person's mind you see their most fleeting, shallow thoughts. I _become _the other person. I feel as they feel, experience the essential aspects that make them the person they are." He closed his eyes for a moment, a look of utter revulsion contorting his handsome face. It was the first time I had seen him display anything close to remorse. When he continued his voice was little more than a murmur. "I was only inside Isabella for a few seconds before she threw up mental walls to block me out, but it was enough. I felt the deep love she had for the werewolves who had been her family and her agony at their deaths, like a gaping wound in her chest. I no longer cared about hunting or striving to achieve the Brotherhood's goals. All that mattered was atoning for what had happened that night, finding some way to lessen Isabella's pain."

"She just let you join her after what you had done?" I asked incredulously.

"No. It took a long time for Isabella to accept me as a companion, almost two years. Once the Brotherhood set their sights on a vampire they rarely let them go, so I followed Isabella and the child and fended off the Brotherhood's attacks when they came. Eventually Isabella realised that I was sincere and allowed me to join them as long as I swore to protect the child at all costs."

"Selfish," I snarled.

Bryce raised his eyebrows. "I beg your pardon."

"Selfish," I repeated. "You cared more about making yourself feel better than Bella's pain. If your priority had been helping her to heal then you wouldn't have hounded her, a living reminder of the night her friends were murdered."

Slowly, he rose to his feet. I followed suit, ignoring my family's pleas for restraint. "You accuse me of being selfish?" he said. "If Isabella had demanded my death as repayment for the pack, I would have willingly allowed her to pull me limb from limb. You of all people have no right to judge an act selfish. You abandoned her to torture and death at the hands of a deranged vampire because you were _bored of her_."

My cry of shock and pain at these words was lost in a crash from outside. A yelp of pain was followed by a deep, feral snarl. The briefest moment of stillness and then I was racing to the door, overtaking Alice, Carlisle and Bryce in my desperation to reach Bella.


	6. A Long Night

**Note: **Sincere apologies for the delay in updates. My internet connection has been very patchy. Unfortunately, it will probably be even longer until the next update. We're moving house soon so we won't have the internet for a while. Sorry! I'll update as soon as possible. Thanks for all the reviews.

**Chapter Five: A Long Night**

**Bella's Point of View**

It was too much too soon. I had believed, stupidly I now realised, that time had numbed the pain of Edward's departure. I knew better than to hope that the wound had even begun to heal, but the long years stretching between my human life in Forks and the precarious existence I shared with my new family had dulled the intensity of the pain. Now, seeing him for the first time in two decades, the agony came flooding back and I was drowning in it. There he stood: the man I loved with all of myself, the embodiment of my former hopes for a future with the family I had longed to join. The urge to run to him, to feel those marble arms closing around me, was almost irresistible. But there was no welcome for me in those arms and if Edward pushed me away he would achieve what the Brotherhood had failed to do so many times and destroy me.

When I spoke, I was amazed to hear no tremor in my voice. It felt like a stranger had taken over my mouth, calmly recounting the events of the last twenty years while I trembled in a dark corner of my mind. Inevitably, Bryce began to tell of the slaughter at La Push, and I felt my composure rapidly slipping away. Salt in another open wound. As always happened when I remembered that night, the cloying smell of blood seeped from my memory to choke me. I had to get out, had to leave before I screamed or wept tearlessly. I made my escape, barely conscious of the concerned eyes that followed me.

I burst through the door. For a long, panicked moment my throat clenched convulsively and I couldn't breathe. Forcing myself to calm down, I gulped in the night air. It was crisp and clean, carrying with it the scent of damp earth and leaves. Slowly my senses began to clear. I allowed the smells and sounds of the forest to fill me up, banishing the phantom scent of blood from my mind.

So focussed on trying to regain my calm, I didn't notice the new scents filtering through the trees. I should have recognised them immediately; they were ingrained in my memory. The first time I became aware of another presence was when a twig snapped loudly nearby. Spinning to face the source of the noise, I found Marcus and Billy. Billy's eyes were wide and terrified ads he stared at the vampire. I knew the look on Marcus's face too well: the thirst for human blood was so strong that it pained him. It took me only a moment to understand what had happened. Billy, who had protested vehemently about not being allowed to accompany me to the Cullens' house, had crept out of the house to eavesdrop on the meeting. When Marcus realised he had followed Billy in the hope of forcing him to return him or at least to protect him. But Marcus's hunger was terrible today, and 

travelling so close to humans had pushed his willpower to breaking point. His eyes were blank and glazed, his mouth twisted in an agonised grimace. I estimated that there were mere seconds left until he lost all control and headed towards a densely populated area to feed. Vaulting over the porch rail, I launched myself at him.

The forest echoed with the impact of our bodies. Marcus snarled viciously, clawing at my face and trying to catch any part of my skin between his wickedly sharp teeth. Despite the fact that I was by far the strongest, I struggled to restrain him. If I moved too hastily I could easily crush his bones to powder, so I handled him with extreme care. I was vaguely aware of the door crashing open and then Edward was at my side, ripping Marcus out of my arms and flinging him away.

"No!" I shouted, a cry that was echoed by Bryce. I pounced onto Marcus a second time, and with Bryce's help subdued him quickly. "Get him inside," I ordered, passing him entirely into Bryce's care. He locked Marcus in a steely grip and dragged the snarling, kicking vampire into the house.

I could feel the family staring at me questioningly, but for the moment I only had eyes for Billy. I went to him, taking his chin in my fingers and tilting his head to check for injuries. "Are you hurt?" I asked quietly.

"No," he replied, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the floor.

"What happened?"

Billy kept his gaze lowered, refusing to meet my eyes. He pressed his nails into the soft pad of his thumb, a habit he fell into when he was nervous or scared. "It's my fault," he said after a long hesitation. "I wanted to know what was going on so I gave Marcus the slip and snuck out. The only reason he left the house was to try and make me go back. I'm sorry." For the first time he lifted his eyes to mine and I could see the sincerity in them.

"You know it's dangerous to leave the house alone at night."

"I can take care of myself," he said defensively.

"Against one vampire, perhaps, but not against three or four. More than that, you must have known that Marcus would come after you when he realised you were gone, and you know that he's having a difficult day. He could have killed someone." My voice was stern but I felt myself beginning to 

waver as I stared into his guilt filled face. Despite the responsibilities he shouldered and the ever present danger he faced, Billy was still little more than a child. Was it really fair to expect him to be constantly careful? If he had a normal family, who didn't place him in harm's way merely by existing, he could make mistakes and forget his responsibilities without having to face fatal consequences. I sighed, suddenly feeling very tired.

"Go inside," I said, gently squeezing his shoulder to assure him that, although the conversation wasn't over, he was forgiven for his lapse in judgement. "Speak to Marcus. If he's still... not himself, it might help."

As soon as he had disappeared into the house I turned to the Cullens. "I'm sorry." I addressed Carlisle more than anyone else. It was easier to look into his kind, open face. "That was Marcus, the other member of our family. He's a little over a year old and struggles with his hunger."

"I could calm him, if you'd like," said Jasper. There was understanding in his voice. Of course, he didn't need his extraordinary powers of empathy to taste Marcus's struggle and guilt. He too had been the 'weak link' in a family of vampires. I nodded gratefully, and he followed Billy inside.

"You were the one who changed Marcus?" asked Carlisle.

I suppressed a shudder. The memory of our first meeting with Marcus was one I would prefer to forget. The image of the young man crumpled on the ground, his life draining away through a wound in his chest, was a waking nightmare. Although I had been tempted to create vampires in the past to boost our numbers and improve our chances of surviving against the Brotherhood, I had never been able to bring myself to take a human life. But Marcus had been fatally wounded whilst defending Billy against a vampire attack. How could I let him die after he had saved Billy's life?

"Yes, I changed him," I said softly.

Alice regarded me with awe filled eyes as we filed into the house. "How did you do it?" she murmured. "How did you do it without killing him?"

"I don't like the taste of blood so it wasn't difficult for me to stop," I explained. "I spat out what little entered my mouth."

We found Marcus with his head in his hands, moaning softly. He looked up at me with tortured eyes as I entered the room, and I could sense the stream of apologies about to burst from his lips. I held up a hand and shook my head, silencing his apologies before they could begin. I settled on the sofa to his right while Billy took the seat on his left. Physical closeness to his family always helped Marcus to remember why he tortured himself by refraining from hunting humans.

"I can't go back," he groaned. "I can't walk through the town again. I don't have that much control."

"I could go with you," Jasper volunteered immediately. "Keep things calm."

"Stay here," blurted Edward. When everyone stared at him in surprise he continued, "We have enough room with Emmett and Rosalie away, and it would be less risky than travelling through a densely populated area." He stumbled and stuttered when he spoke, and it was strange to hear. The Edward I had known had never shown such human imperfections. I wondered what had made him so nervous; perhaps he didn't want to be in close proximity to me, but felt compelled to offer us help.

"We don't want to trouble you," I said.

"Oh, Bella, it would be no trouble at all," said Esme earnestly. "We would love to have you here."

"I'm not sure. Billy has school tomorrow. He needs to sleep and eat, and he doesn't have any clothes or-"

"I could return to the house and retrieve a fresh set of clothes for William," interrupted Bryce. I raised my eyebrows at him. He had been very suspicious of the Cullens, and I couldn't imagine why he would want to spend a night with them. I made a silent note to question him about his motives later, in private.

"We have a spare bed and Billy could ride with us to school tomorrow," said Alice.

Billy, clearly still desperate for information about the new vampires, nodded eagerly. Marcus looked deeply grateful to be spared the ordeal of having to pass through town for a second time. When I turned my eyes on Bryce again he gave me a small, almost imperceptible, nod. "We'll stay. But only," I had to raise my voice to be heard over Alice's delighted shriek, "if it's not going to cause you any trouble."

"Don't be ridiculous," said Alice happily, hurrying towards me with such grace that she could have been dancing. She took my hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "You have so much still to tell us."

Esme made a disapproving noise. "Don't pester her, Alice. Bella's night has been stressful enough already."

Things moved quickly after that. Bryce slipped out of the house and returned an hour later with a fresh set of clothes and food for Billy. While he was gone I talked Jasper and Alice. We stuck to safe topics, nothing which touched upon the past twenty years. Esme fussed over Billy while Carlisle spoke softly to Marcus, doing his best to comfort the distraught young vampire. Edward remained silent, his eyes burning into my head.

After Billy had devoured his second meal of the night, I escorted him to his temporary bedroom. At the door he paused and said nervously, "Have you changed your mind because of tonight, Bells? About Forks?"

I smiled at him. "Of course not. I wouldn't go back on my word, not on something so important. But you can't behave as you did tonight when we're there. It's too dangerous."


	7. Private Conversations

**Chapter Six: Private Conversations**

**Edward's Point of View**

I slipped from the room and quietly followed Bella and Billy upstairs. I couldn't stand to stay in the presence of Bella's family for a second longer. It was clear that Bryce disliked me, but Marcus despised me. His hatred wasn't limited only to me: he detested every member of my family. I couldn't understand how anyone could hate Esme and Carlisle, brimming as they were with compassion and love, and I couldn't pick a reason for Marcus's hatred out of his violent swirl of thoughts. There would have been a confrontation if Jasper hadn't been there to cool burning emotions.

I remained silent as Bella bid Billy goodnight, trying not to listen to their murmured conversation but unable to avoid overhearing the occasional word. When Billy disappeared into the bedroom, I stepped out of the shadows and cleared my throat to announce my presence. Bella turned to regard me with those inscrutable black eyes, and suddenly I felt very alone. It had always been a great source of frustration that I couldn't hear Bella's thoughts, but now I couldn't read any expression in her eyes and her face was as smooth and cold as marble.

"Bella," I said, and faltered. I had spent so many years avoiding even thinking about her name that it felt strange to speak it. It was wonderfully familiar, but at the same time it left me feeling exposed. "May we speak for a moment?" I asked quietly.

She regarded me silently for a long moment before nodding.

"In private," I added. "My room is just down the corridor." I would have preferred to leave the house altogether. Although my family would never intentionally intrude on such a private conversation, sometimes it was unavoidable with such an advanced sense of hearing. But from what I had already witnessed I knew that Bella would never consent to leaving Billy.

Reluctantly, she followed me to my room. I was unreasonably self conscious as we entered. There was no sofa, no music, no curtains over the windows. For eighteen of the past twenty years I had lived alone, moving from house to house, country to country, in a futile effort to numb the pain of losing Bella. Since giving into Esme's pleas and returning to my family, I had made no effort to surround myself with the material possessions I used to take pleasure in. There was no longer any exhilaration in the rise and fall of music, or in the speed of a powerful car.

Bella lingered near the door, arms crossed defensively over her chest. "What is it, Edward?"

I flinched at the impatience in her voice. "I just want to talk."

"About?"

"You! Your family, your life. Everything."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What would you like to know?"

I opened my mouth to speak and froze. A moment ago my head had been crowded with questions, and now I couldn't think of a single one. There were questions that I wanted – _needed_ – to ask. Did she realise that I loved her, or did she still believe that I no longer wanted her? Had she missed me during the time we were parted? Had she thought about me at all? With both of our families only a floor below, this wasn't the time for such personal questions. I was content just to be in her presence until we could be truly alone. "Marcus," I said, groping for words. "You changed him. Why?"

I regretted my words instantly as her face contorted in a grimace of pain. "I didn't intend to make a vampire," she said softly. "He saved Billy's life. The Brotherhood attacked while he was alone, and Marcus held them off until we got there. He was…" She trailed off, shuddering. "Injured. Badly. I had a choice: change him or watch him die. I couldn't let him bleed to death, not after what he'd done for Billy."

A sympathetic shiver ran down my spine. I had once faced a similar choice as Bella lay at my feet, vampiric venom coursing through her veins. It was almost no choice at all. Only a small, selfish part of me wanted to let the venom do its work so that I could keep Bella for the rest of my existence. But there was the terrible fear that I wouldn't be able to stop, that I would drain away every last drop of blood from her body. "Did you every worry that you were condemning him to a different kind of death?" I asked.

There was bitterness in her voice when she said, "You mean his soul? We never did see eye to eye about that. Not until what happened at La Push. All that death and destruction…" She shook her head sadly, and not for the first time I wished that she hadn't had to suffer that experience alone. "I couldn't see how anything with a soul could be responsible for that. So yes, I worried about what I had done to Marcus. But his mother set me straight."

My eyes widened as hot fear bubbled in my stomach. "You told his mother what you had done?" I demanded incredulously. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was, Bella? If the Volturi ever found out-"

"I didn't tell his mother," she interrupted impatiently. "His mother came to me. Usually we move to a new town straight after a Brotherhood attack, but with Marcus's change that was impossible. There was nothing we could do but hide indoors for three days and hope for the best. She appeared on the second day. She knew _everything _that had happened. What's more, she told me that Marcus had known what was going to happen before it did."

"They're like Alice? They can see the future?" This confused me. Alice's mind was distinct, constantly shifting and changing as those around her made decisions that changed their fate. I had sensed nothing similar in Marcus's mind.

Bella shook her head. "Not quite. She was – Well, she told me that I would best understand her if I called her a witch, but that her true name was secret and sacred. She didn't see the future in the same way that Alice does; she had to perform certain rituals. Don't ask me, I don't know what they involved," she added hurriedly, seeing that I was about to question her further. "Apparently Marcus had seen what would happen to him if he helped Billy, and he chose to help him anyway."

I took in her twisted smile, the unbearable bitterness in her black eyes, and said slowly, "You don't seem convinced."

"I believe he saw his future, but I don't think he really had a choice in the matter. I don't think Marcus could have chosen not to help. But back to your question about his soul – Marcus can see things that we can't."

"'Things'?"

"He calls them echoes of spirits."

"_Ghosts?_"

Another impatient shake of her head. "It's difficult to explain. Sometimes he does see whole spirits – _ghosts_ – but it's very rare. When one soul touches another, truly connects with it, it leaves an imprint. Almost everyone on the planet carries an echo of another person's spirit; this is what Marcus can see."

"So," I said with a sad smile, for this sounded uncomfortably familiar, "Romeo carried a piece of Juliet's soul?"

She grimaced and looked away. "Yes. But it's not all about love. Spirits need strong emotion to connect, and it doesn't have to be positive. For example, an act of violence committed upon another person would leave an imprint." She raised her eyes slowly to meet mine. "What do you think he sees when he looks at us?" she asked quietly.

Once I truly understood the idea, it appalled me. I hadn't murdered a person in decades, but I had taken many lives during my rebellious period of the previous century. Years later I could still picture the faces of my victims with perfect clarity; I doubted that they would ever fade. But the image of dozens of ghostly figures clustering around me for the rest of eternity was almost too much to bear. If that was what Marcus saw every time he looked at us, I could understand why he despised us.

Something that Bella had said didn't quite make sense. Disgusted as I was, it took a few moments to grasp what she had said. She had never taken a human life: why would Marcus see anything when he looked at her? "Hold on," I said. "You haven't killed. He shouldn't be able to see any imprints when he looks at you."

"I haven't killed any _humans_," she corrected. "I've killed dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of vampires, and that's what Marcus can see."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that-"

"We have souls," she finished. "I knew you wouldn't be convinced. Carlisle will be interested, though." She cast an awkward glance at the door and took a step backwards. "I should be getting back. Marcus and Bryce will be wondering where I am."

A wave of panic ran through me. I couldn't let her leave now, not after such a short time together. I couldn't sit beside her in a crowded room for the rest of the night without first extracting a promise that I could speak to her again. "I heard you talking to Billy," I said. She paused with her hand on the door handle. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to overhear, but I couldn't avoid it." I paused for a moment, watching her face for signs that she was angry that I had eavesdropped. When she said nothing I continued, "Did I hear you say that you're planning on returning to Forks?"

She hesitated, watching me uncertainly. "Not permanently," she said slowly. "We're just visiting. Billy, he – he doesn't have a history. He doesn't even have a home because we have to move around so much. I've told him everything I can about his parents, but it's no substitute for actually knowing them. If we go back to Forks, I can show him where Jake and Lizzie are buried. He can visit the places he knows from the very few memories he has of his early childhood. That's the very least I owe him."

The guilt in Bella's voice was overwhelming. I wanted to make her understand that what happened to the people at La Push wasn't her fault. Vampires intent on conquering humans would never have allowed a large group of werewolves to survive. No one could fault her for the way she had raised Billy, with such obvious love and care. I knew that her guilt and grief ran too deeply to be eradicated by a single word from me, and so instead of trying to comfort her I said, "Are you taking Marcus and Bryce with you?"

"No. The safest way to travel is by plane, and Marcus wouldn't be able to handle that. Too many humans in a confined space. Bryce is staying here with him."

"Let us come with you," I blurted. Seeing the incredulous look on her face, I hurried on before she could protest. "It makes sense. You can't possibly keep a constant watch on Billy. Tonight he escaped a vampire and managed to evade him in town."

"Marcus was distracted. I am more vigilant."

"Even so, what if the Brotherhood finds you? I know you're strong and capable, but what will happen to Billy if you are outnumbered?" I argued my case passionately, not just because I wanted to spend more time with Bella but because I was truly terrified about what would happen to her if the murderous vampires tracked her down. "We can fight. If you are attacked, we can defend you."

"I'm not sure," she murmured. "You're volunteering your family without asking them first."

"They _will _want to go, I know they will. We can ask them now."

"Well…"

"Come on," I insisted, hurrying to the door before she could waver. "Let's talk to Carlisle."


	8. Forks

**Chapter Seven: Forks**

**Bella's Point of View**

My stomach was tied in knots of anxiety as we approached the Cullens' former home. I couldn't pinpoint exactly the cause of my nervousness. Certainly being back in Forks wasn't a reason for celebration. It wasn't just that every house and tree in the sleepy town seemed to trigger painful memories. I had to be a hundred times more careful, constantly alert for people who might recognise me from twenty years earlier. I could imagine the uproar that would ensue should someone see Bella Swan, supposedly murdered, strolling down the street looking not a day older than eighteen.

The absence of Bryce and Marcus also discomforted me. Despite the fact that I was far more powerful than both of them, I felt extremely exposed and vulnerable without them at my side. Before leaving for Forks the Cullens had sworn to me that they would protect Billy with their lives, but, although I didn't doubt them, they didn't have the devotion to him that Marcus and Bryce had. How could they? They hadn't watched him grow up as Bryce had. Nor had they depended on him to help maintain their sanity as Marcus frequently had to.

An involuntary shudder worked its way up my spine as we entered the Cullens' house. It was just how I remembered it, but with small, disturbing differences. The white sheets thrown over the furniture. The thick layer of dust covering every surface. The place seemed dead, devoid of the familiar affection and small squabbles that had filled it when Edward and his family had lived there. I found myself wishing that Emmett was with us. He would break the tense atmosphere with a joke and booming laughter, even though his reassuring presence would be counterbalanced by the dour Rosalie.

The others seemed to be equally disturbed by the sight of the house. They stayed close to the door as they surveyed their surroundings, apparently unwilling to venture further into the room. Alice moved closer to Jasper, groping for his hand. This seemed to snap him from the daze her had fallen into. A wave of calm washed over me, and I could see that the others were also affected as their bodies fell into more relaxed poses. Esme was the first to move. She strode forwards with a determined air and began to pull the covers off the furniture. If anyone could make the house feel like a home again, it was Esme, and she wouldn't rest until it was fit for her family.

The only person unaffected by the mood was Billy. The journey had been long and exhausting for him, and he threw himself eagerly into the nearest armchair. Luckily he would not have the energy to visit La Push until at least the next morning, leaving me time to take care of some personal business. For the first time I was thankful that Alice's sight was obscured by Billy. Sometimes she couldn't control what she saw despite her reluctance to look into personal matters, and the thought of anyone witnessing such a private moment turned my stomach.

"Alice?" said Esme. "Could you make up a bed for Billy? Use Rosalie and Emmett's room, they won't need it for another few days."

"I'll go with you," I said, hurrying after Alice. As soon as we began to climb the stairs I whispered, "Rosalie and Emmett are coming?"

"We're not sure. Neither of them have their cells switched on so we can't get in touch with them, but we left them a letter explaining where we are."

"Do you think they will come here?"

"Emmett will be on the first plane here." She smiled. "Do you honestly think he would pass up a chance to see you again?"

"And Rosalie?"

"Where Emmett goes, Rosalie goes." She gave me a sidelong glance. "Are you worried about her?"

I grimaced. "She was never my biggest fan, Alice. She hated me."

"She didn't _hate_ you." I raised an eyebrow and Alice relented, saying, "Alright, she did. But only because she was jealous of you."

"Jealous? Of me? _Why?_" I sputtered. The idea that Rosalie, the vampire so beautiful that she could barely pass for a human, had ever been jealous of me was absurd.

"She envied your humanity. She's never been comfortable with what she is, and she hated that you were prepared to give your life up to become a vampire. And it drove her crazy that Edward wanted you when he didn't want her, even though she loves him as a brother."

"She has no reason to be jealous now," I said, wincing at the barely contained bitterness in my voice.

Alice looked at me sharply. "The humanity thing I'll grant you, but I wouldn't be so sure about Edward not wanting you."

"Alice, you don't have to lie to make me feel better."

"I'm not. You need to talk to him."

"Could you keep an eye on Billy?" I asked, ignoring her last comment. "I need to go out for a while."

"Of course." She frowned. "But think about what I said."

I hurried back downstairs and kissed Billy swiftly on the cheek before leaving. I was grateful that Alice hadn't asked where I was going, although the topic that had distracted her was almost as uncomfortable. It was impossible to believe that Edward might still want me. Of course, he had once told me that he would always love me "in a way". But he no longer loved me as he once had. That was the reason why he had left Forks, taking his family with him. That was one of the defining events that had led to me becoming a vampire.

As I ran through the trees, I gradually became aware that I was being followed. I didn't sense anything menacing from the presence. It was watchful and clearly not human, but I didn't feel the prickling of my senses that usually indicated danger. It could only be one of the Cullens. I was tempted to throw out the mental cloak that would mask my presence, even my scent, from them, but I knew that would be futile. If they were determined to find me then they wouldn't be put off so easily, and my destination would be the first place they would check. I could only continue on my way and hope that they would disappear quietly when they realised what I was doing.

I slowed down as I reached my old home. This was the first time I had visited the house I had shared with Charlie since the day Victoria had broken into my room and ended my human life. I wasn't surprised by the numbness that encased my mind. It wasn't a lack of emotion, but a protection from the grief and anger that would consume me should I allow them to have free reign.

I walked a slow circle around the house. Walking wasn't as easy as it had been a few moments ago; to continue to put one foot in front of another required an almost Herculean effort. I was disturbed by my lack of memory. I knew that there were snapshots of my former life hidden somewhere deep in my mind – laughing with Charlie, sitting in my old rocking chair as a child – but it was like trying to look at photos that had been blurred and damaged by the passage of time. I had hoped that returning to this place would bring those memories into sharp clarity, but to no avail. The only clear memories of my human life were those that involved Edward.

It wasn't until I reached the back of the house that a particular memory returned and I briefly lost control. It had been the night after my encounter with Laurent in the meadow. Victoria was intent on torturing and killing me, and I had no protection. I remembered all too well how I had fared against James. There was no doubt in my mind that the vampire would have murdered me had Edward not arrived in time. I stood just as little chance of defending myself against Victoria, and this time Edward wouldn't be there to save the day.

In that terrified state of mind it had seemed that I only had one course of action. It seemed that I had to remove myself from the picture entirely. If I lived then I put Charlie in danger and faced a terrible death at Victoria's hands. If I chose to take my own life then my family would be safe, and I would have a far more peaceful death than a vampire bent on vengeance would ever allow me.

That was a decision born of panicked emotion. It was only when I was standing outside the house, knife poised over my exposed wrist, that the cold voice of logic whispered in my ear. Who was to say that my death would ensure Charlie's safety? If Victoria was as determined to have her revenge as Laurent had led me to believe, my death would only enrage her further. Would she stop after she had murdered Charlie, or would her rage demand more victims? Would she hunt down my mother and Phil? Would she torture Jake, the friend who had brought light back into my life?

No. I must live. I couldn't defend myself and those I loved against Victoria, but at the very least I could lead her away from them and hope that she would be satisfied with my death.

A whimper drew me from that painful memory. At first I thought that I had uttered the noise, but then it came a second time. It was deep, masculine. I turned to find Edward only a few paces behind me, his face frozen in a mask of agony. His eyes were wide and glazed, and I knew for certain that they would have shone with tears had he been human.

"I saw," he choked. "I saw you. You were going to-" He broke off, shuddering.

I cursed myself silently. I had never had to try to block my thoughts from Edward before; the ability had come effortlessly. Now I had control over who could enter my mind, it required concentration to keep my mental barriers erected. The ability was second nature to me now and normally I didn't have to think about it, but the shock of the sudden memory had clearly left me vulnerable.

"Edward?" I said, approaching him tentatively.

"You nearly died because of me. You _did _die because of me!" He buried his face in his hands and jerked away as I reached for him.

"What happened to me wasn't your fault."

"Of course it was! I abandoned you. I left you with no kind of protection, and I exposed you to James in the first place."

I lowered myself to where he now knelt in the grass. "You're not responsible for me, Edward," I said gently. "You can't blame yourself for what happened."

He merely shook his head, tearless sobs ripping from his chest. The urge to comfort him was almost overwhelming. My hands were almost touching him when I realised what I was doing and pulled back. Did he want comfort from me? If I placed my arms around him would he pull away? And what if he didn't? Since our reunion merely being in his presence had been painful. I risked tearing open an old wound by touching him, and I wasn't sure if I could put myself back together again.

But I had never seen him looking so helpless before. I couldn't watch him suffer. Slowly, wary of rejection, I reached out and wrapped my arms around him. Immediately he froze, as still and immovable as a rock. I held my breath, the seconds crawling by like years as I awaited his next move. Then he relaxed into my embrace, burying his face gratefully against my shoulder.

I remained silent as he cried himself out, wanting to say something comforting but unable to find the words. Eventually his shoulders stopped shaking and he slowly moved away from me, crouching on his heels.

"Bella," he began, but at that moment light flooded the kitchen window and the door flew open. Automatically I shielded myself from sight and sound, extending the invisible shield to cover Edward as well. A scowling young woman emerged into the garden. She pulled her jacket tightly around herself as her eyes scanned the grass. After a few moments she let out a sigh of relief, plucked a small toy car from the ground and hurried back into the house.

"Who was that?" asked Edward as soon as the kitchen window was dark again.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Where's Charlie? Did he move house?"

"No. He lived here until a heart attack killed him a few years ago." I averted my eyes from Edward's stricken face and rose to my feet. "Come on. We should get back to the house."


	9. Revelations

**Chapter Eight: Revelations**

**Edward's Point of View**

It would have been poor sense to allow Billy to visit La Push without first investigating the area, so we made our way there instead of returning home. Some might call Bella's caution concerning Billy excessive, but I had protected her just as fiercely in the days when we were together. It had been my unforgivable lapse in caution that led to her torture and change at Victoria's hands. Determined not to let her come to anymore harm, I decided to follow her to La Push. She insisted that there was almost certainly no danger there, and even if there was she was more than capable of handling it, but I was determined.

The pace we set was slow for us, although a human wouldn't have been able to keep up. The silences between us since meeting again had been heavy, sparking with tension and things left unsaid, but the one that reined now was surprisingly companionable. Perhaps it was because of what had passed between us at the house. Thinking of that forced the memory of Bella's near suicide to the surface of my mind. The image of her wide eyed and trembling, poised to take her own life, had broken my heart. The knowledge that I hadn't been there to ease her desperation, that I had even contributed to it, had almost destroyed me. When Bella wrapped her arms around me she had anchored me to her, and it was only that which kept my mind from slipping away.

Perhaps I made some tiny noise of despair that Bella's sharp ears picked up. She looked at me with concern I did not deserve and asked, "Are you alright?"

I smiled unconvincingly. "Of course."

"You don't fool me, Edward. What's wrong?"

I sighed. I knew Bella well enough to know that she wouldn't let this drop, but if I explained it would probably cause an argument. She would try to comfort me, to remove the blame that was rightfully mine from my shoulders. I knew that I wouldn't be able to lie to her. She could always tell when I was holding something back, and immortality had only increased her powers of perception. Reluctantly I said, "I will tell you on one condition: you let me explain without interruptions."

"Okay," she said uncertainly.

"I was thinking about what happened at the house. What I saw. I know you believe that what happened to you wasn't my fault, but I must take the blame." She opened her mouth to argue but I shook my head. "Remember my condition. I never believed that Victoria would return to avenge James, but I should have considered it as a possibility. I should have studied her mind more closely during our meeting. I should never have left you. By leaving I exposed you to the worst kind of danger. Victoria, Laurent, the wolves. What happened to you is my fault because I should have been there to protect you."

"Edward, you _must _stop feeling responsible for me. It's insane! If I had chosen to kill myself rather than face Victoria, it would have been _my _choice. And I wasn't without protection. Jake and the pack did all they could to stop Victoria getting to me, it was just bad luck that she managed to slip through." She looked at me pleadingly. "You have to let go of the guilt you're carrying. You didn't lo – Didn't feel the same way about me anymore. You left and you no longer had an obligation towards me."

Her words froze me. After more than a week of what I thought had been obvious longing, after my utter despair at the house, was it possible she still believed that I didn't love her? It took a moment for her to realise I had stopped walking, and she was forced to backtrack. She stopped in front of me, watching me with clear worry.

"Bella," I whispered. "Bella, how can you not understand?"

"Understand what?"

"That I lied. The day I left, when I told you I didn't love you, I was lying. I knew if you were going to ever have a chance of a normal human life I would have to leave, but I was equally as certain that you wouldn't let me go unless you believed that I no longer loved you. So I lied. It almost destroyed me to do it but somehow I managed."

The pain in her eyes was almost unbearable. With a visible effort she drove the emotion from her face, although her expressionless features were almost as disturbing. "Please don't lie to me, Edward. You don't have to try to make me feel better."

"I'm telling you the truth." I took her chin between my fingers and forced her to look up into my eyes. I knew she could push my hands away effortlessly – that she could break my fingers off if she chose to – but she seemed frozen in place, perhaps wanting to believe me but unable to. "I haven't stopped loving you since the day I saved you from that truck. When we came back to Forks and found your grave I wished myself dead. I would have gone to the Volturi and begged them to kill me if my family hadn't restrained me, and it was only Esme's pleading that stopped me. Since then I've felt dead, hollow; when Bryce told me that you were alive it brought me back to life."

"Then _why? _If you love me so much, why did you leave?"

"Because I had to. I wanted you to experience all the joys of human life and ensure you a place in heaven after death. But what happened with Jasper on your birthday opened my eyes. Do you think I could have stood by and watched you die if anything happened to you? No, I was too selfish. I would have made you into one of us and damned your soul for eternity rather live in a world that didn't have you in it. So I left before I could hurt you. I left so you could be happy."

I watched her eyes widen and knew that, at last, she believed me. A moment of silence that trembled with the reverberations of my revelation, and then the blank shock on her face dissolved to be replaced with an emotion I hadn't expected: fury.

"Happy?" whispered Bella. "You think I was _happy?_"

She tore her face from my grip, placed her hands on my chest and shoved. It was very lucky that she didn't use all of her considerable strength or my bones would have shattered. Instead I collided with a tree with an ear splitting crash and slid to the floor, stunned by Bella's behaviour rather than pain from her action. She was at my side in a second, her angry face inches from mine.

"How dare you?" she hissed. "Deciding what was best for me. The arrogance! I knew what I wanted, what I _needed_ – you! I was miserable without you."

"I thought you would forget me," I mumbled.

She gave a little laugh that was devoid of humour. "'Forget you'?" she repeated. To my surprise, I felt her mental barrier disappear. Usually I could block thoughts and memories from my mind, but not now. She was forcing her memories into my head. I saw myself through her eyes, felt the love she had for me and how happy I had made her. Then I saw the state of living death my disappearance had condemned her to. I felt the pain, as great as what I had suffered, that she tried to conceal for Charlie's sake. I realised then that although she may have found love again, perhaps married and found children, the wound I had inflicted on her would never truly have healed. Her love for me was as deep and lasting as my love for her.

The flow of memories broke off abruptly and Bella disappeared. I struggled to my feet, as slow and weak as a human, and tried to locate her amongst the trees. There was no sign of her. I couldn't even find a trace of her scent or hear her footsteps. She had clearly thrown up that mental shield that had protected us at Charlie's house. "Bella?" I called without any real hope. When she failed to reply, knowing that I had no hope of finding her if she didn't want to be found, I reluctantly began to walk home.

Bella was right. After more than a hundred years of existence I had learned a lot about human nature. Their loves and hates were fleeting things, soon forgotten when a new distraction arrived. I had assumed that Bella was incapable of the same kind of devotion I had for her, the same kind of devotion I saw between Alice and Jasper, Rose and Emmett and Esme and Carlisle. I had been arrogant in my certainty, and that arrogance had caused both of us untold pain.

I braced myself as I approached our house. I knew there would be many questions when I returned without Bella. Thankfully, Billy obscured Alice's vision and so my family wouldn't know exactly what had passed between us, although they could guess fairly accurately. To my surprise, however, Bella had beaten me back to the house. She stood between Alice and Jasper, her face deathly pale and her body rigid with tension. At first I thought that she had come to my brother and sister for comfort, but one glimpse into her eyes convinced me that something had happened after she had left me. Something was terribly wrong.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You need to come with me. Alice and Jasper too." She looked to Esme and Carlisle. "Will you stay here and watch over Billy while we go?"

"Of course," said Esme. "But I'm sure that doesn't require two of us."

Bella shuddered. "I don't think all six of us would be enough."

Without further elaboration, she led us out of the door and into the forest. The house had only just disappeared from sight when she forced us to halt. Her eyes narrowed briefly in concentration. "There. We're shielded from sight, sound and scent."

Jasper and Alice exchanged worried looks. "Why do we need to be shielded, Bella?" asked Jasper.

"You'll see," she said grimly, and we marched on again. Despite Jasper's attempts to calm the situation, I was consumed with nervousness. I wanted to speak to Bella privately, to explain and apologise and plead with her to take me back, but she seemed determined not to mention our conversation. I hoped that she would give me the opportunity after she had showed us whatever had scared her so much.

We soon arrived at what had once been the border between vampire and werewolf territory. I hovered by it, unwilling to cross over into the land that led to La Push. The werewolves might have been dead for years but breaking the treaty still felt taboo. Next to me, Jasper and Alice looked equally as uncomfortable. "Do we have to cross over?" asked Alice.

"Yes. I didn't mean to come here, I was just running aimlessly after-" She broke off, stealing a quick glance at me before looking away. "Anyway, I found… Well, you'll see."

She was the first to step over the invisible line and I followed quickly. She froze, placing a hand on my chest far more gently than she had before to stop me from moving. "Can you hear it?" she whispered. "Listen with your mind."

I was sceptical, as there was no one in sight, but did as I was bid. I sent my awareness through the dark trees, hunting for any sign of another mind. Behind me I knew the others were waiting, poised for some sort of sign or signal from me. Finally, as I was on the brink of giving up, I found it. I say it because it wasn't just one mind, but many. I couldn't say for sure how many there were, it was like trying to pick single threads out of a tapestry, but I guessed there were at least forty.

Bella's arms were around my waist, holding me up, and it took me a moment to realise I had collapsed.

"What is it?" asked Alice urgently, reaching forward with Jasper to steady me.

"Vampires," I gasped. "Dozens of them."


	10. Planning

**Chapter Nine: Planning**

**Edward's Point of View**

The walk back to the house passed in a tense silence. The moment we were a safe distance away from the hoard of vampires Bella snapped open her phone, punched in some numbers and began talking in a low, urgent voice. I couldn't catch everything she said but heard enough to realise that she was talking to Bryce, and that she was requesting his and Marcus's presence in Forks immediately. I could faintly hear Bryce on the other end asking pointed questions, to which Bella replied with a yes or no. I realised that there was an undercurrent of panic beneath his collected tone, and hot jealousy clawed at my heart. It was no secret amongst my family that I disliked the older vampire. Every time he had touched Bella protectively, or they had shared a knowing look, or had told us a story of how they had fought off an attack together I had found myself hating him. I knew I should be grateful that he had helped Bella in my absence, but I didn't think we would ever be friends. Telling myself that this was no time for petty jealousy, I dragged my mind away from Bryce and into the present.

"You're staying?" I asked quietly.

Bella looked at me in surprise. "Of course I'm staying. Why wouldn't I?"

"I assumed that you would want to get Billy as far away as possible."

"Billy will be protected," she said grimly. "But I can't leave in good conscience without knowing what those vampires are doing here. If they're hostile…" she trailed off, shuddering. "The people in Forks won't stand a chance without us. Did you manage to look into their minds, see what they're planning?"

I shook my head regretfully. "There were too many of them, picking out one mind would have been like trying to hear one voice in a roomful of people. Perhaps if I'd had more time…"

"What about you, Jasper?" asked Bella.

"Same problem as Edward. But, overall, they were excited."

She pressed her lips together in a tight line of anxiety, and I couldn't help but feel that her pessimism was justified. A large group of excited vampires spelled trouble for us as well as the people of Forks. I wondered why the Volturi hadn't stepped in to take action against such an obvious threat to our secrecy. Surely this group had taken weeks, perhaps even months, to assemble; that was more than enough time for news of them to reach Italy. It was then that a new thought occurred to me, making me cold with fear. What if the Volturi did know of them and had chosen not to act? What if this group rivalled them in size and power? Could these be the vampires who had hounded Bella and her small family for years, the Brotherhood? Looking at Bella's scared, tense face, my theory was confirmed.

Perhaps we all wore similar expressions, because the moment we entered the house Carlisle and Esme knew that something was very wrong. They approached us with worry clear in their eyes, instinctively reaching out to each other to grasp hands. "What happened?" asked Esme. "Bella, dear, you seemed so scared when you left here, and now all of you look as if you have seen a ghost."

"It's much worse than that," began Jasper, and launched into an explanation of what we had seen – or, more accurately, what Jasper and I had felt. Esme's eyes grew wide while Carlisle's shut in an expression of weariness that seemed almost ancient. Glancing at Bella, I saw her watching my father with intense guilt. I knew that now she would be blaming herself for bringing us to Forks – even though we had insisted on accompanying her – and placing us in danger from the Brotherhood, but she was misinterpreting Carlisle's grief. It would be a lie to say that he relished the thought of a fight, for he was a peaceful, compassionate man, but the true cause of his sadness was the thought of the kind of deaths the humans in Forks would suffer should we fail to halt this hoard of vampires.

"How did you discover them, Bella?" he asked. "Edward can hear their thoughts and Jasper can feel their emotions, but as far as I am aware your supernatural ability wouldn't allow you to detect them from a long distance."

"I stumbled into the middle of their camp," she said. Although her voice was calm her body was rigid with remembered fear, as was mine. If we hadn't argued, if she hadn't shielded herself to hide from me, she would have been ripped to pieces the moment the vampires realised she was hostile to them. She continued, "I wanted to have a look around La Push before taking Billy there tomorrow. I wasn't sure how well the authorities had…" She hesitated, cringing. "Cleaned up after the Brotherhood attacked years ago, and I wanted to make sure there was nothing there that would distress him. It was very lucky I had my shield up. I'm strong but I would have stood no chance of fighting my way out of there."

"What are we going to do next?" asked Alice. "I've tried looking into the future but all I've been able to see since getting near to the house is a big white blur."

"It's the Brotherhood, I'm sure it is. They're the only vampires who gather in such large numbers beside the Volturi," muttered Bella.

"If they're here for you and Billy then they'll have a fight on their hands," said Jasper, grim but determined.

Bella smiled gratefully but shook her head. "I don't think they know we're here. If they did they would have attacked us already."

"It might not be the Brotherhood," Carlisle spoke up. "The Volturi may have some business here, although I can't imagine what. The difficulty is that we can't stroll into the middle of their camp and ask them."

"The humans," I said quietly, and they all turned to face me. "I would have to get very close to the vampires to disentangle their thoughts and make sense of them. It's too time consuming and risky. The easiest way is to go into Forks and watch the humans. If it's the Volturi then they will have taken great pains to hide their presence here. From what I know of the Brotherhood they will be careless, particularly when it comes to hunting. The humans will be on edge, scared, and I could listen to their thoughts for any stories of strange accidents or sightings."

Jasper gave an approving nod in my direction. "Good idea."

We began to devise a plan. It was then that I truly began to miss Emmett. Jasper was undoubtedly the best strategist, but Emmett's confidence and utter certainty that we would triumph was always reassuring. Eventually it was decided that three of us would visit Forks the following morning. I would go to read the humans' thoughts and Jasper to sense their emotions. As it had only been twenty years since we had left we couldn't risk old acquaintances catching a glimpse of us, so Bella would accompany us to hide us from human eyes. Alice, Carlisle and Esme would remain at the house to watch over Billy and attempt to reach Rose or Emmett on their cells. Alice half heartedly suggested that she leave the house to try and see what the future held, but we all knew it was pointless. Our futures were now so entangled with Billy's that Alice would only see clearly if we deserted him.

If the humans weren't aware of the vampire presence then we would stake out the camp under Bella's shield, watching for known members of the Volturi. If successful we would make contact. One of the leaders was an old friend of Carlisle's, so we had little to fear from them. However, if the humans _were _aware of the vampires we would return to the house and hide, remaining as inconspicuous as possible until Rose, Emmett, Bryce and Marcus could join us and bolster our numbers. We would still be outnumbered but Bella's ability to effectively render us invisible would give us a distinct advantage if it came to a fight. This plan, to my deep relief, required Bella to stay out of the fight so that her concentration in shielding us would not be broken.

Our plan laid out, my family retired to their bedrooms. Of course we didn't need to sleep or rest but only a fool would believe that tomorrow held no danger, and so they wanted time alone with their spouses. I was left sitting awkwardly on the sofa with Bella. I had been distracted by the danger at La Push but now we had a plan of action the memory of Bella's utter fury in the forest came to the fore of my mind. Judging from the discomfort written on her features, it was dominating her thoughts too.

"Are we going to talk about it?" I asked.

"What do you want from me, Edward?" Her voice was so bleak, so devoid of any emotion, that it frightened me.

"I want _you_," I whispered fiercely. When she stiffened I hurried to add, "I understand if you have moved on, found someone else." I thought for a moment of Bryce and forced the anger I felt not to show on my face. "It's what I told you to do."

She laughed mirthlessly. "After all those years of complaining that you couldn't read my mind, and when you finally get the chance you still don't have a clue what I'm thinking. I haven't moved on. I can't."

"Can you forgive me for what I did?"

"There's not much I couldn't forgive you for."

"Then there's a chance for us?" I asked, my heart in my throat.

"Nothing would make me happier than to be yours again", she murmured. For the first time since our talk in the forest she looked into my eyes and smiled sadly. "But there are only so many times a heart can be broken before it can't be put back together again. There was a time when I would have risked that kind of pain just to kiss you again, but things are different now. I'm not just responsible for myself anymore. Bryce can look after himself but Billy and Marcus rely on me."

"Why do you think I would break your heart?"

"You left once, you could do it again."

"Bella, no!" I cried in horror. "I only left to preserve your humanity and that is no longer an issue thanks to Victoria." I spat the vampire's name bitterly.

Bella looked at me uncertainly, and in that moment I knew exactly what she was thinking. She had never been able to see herself clearly, as I saw her. It had never occurred to her that I felt as insanely lucky to be loved by her as she felt to be loved by me. Even now, with her inhuman beauty and abilities that the strongest vampire would envy, she still didn't think that she would be enough for me.

"How did Bryce know that we knew each other?" I demanded.

She hesitated for a moment, clearly confused by the sudden change of subject. "He saw me in your mind."

"Exactly. Bryce has explained to me how his power works. He doesn't see every day worries or short lived concerns, he only sees the integral parts of a person. When he looked at me he saw _you_, Bella. Twenty years after we parted you were still a part of me, and you will continue to be for as long as I exist."

She seemed stunned into silence, unable to argue with the truth of what I was saying. Perhaps she was realising for the first time that I truly loved her, for her eyes grew wide and I knew that if it was possible she would be crying. Taking advantage of her shock, I took her face in my hands and kissed her. A moment of stillness and then her arms were wrapping themselves around my neck and she was crushing her lips against mine. The embrace was almost painful but I could have sobbed with happiness. There would be time for tenderness later; for the moment we needed to cling to each other and try to realise that we were together again.

I was vaguely aware of Alice's tinkling laughter, and then her voice floating down the stairs. "It's about time."


	11. Trapped

**Chapter Ten: Trapped**

**Bella's Point of View**

That night seemed far too short. There weren't enough hours to tell each other what had happened over the past twenty years, or enough time to embrace Edward to my satisfaction. It seemed that I would never get enough of his lips, his arms or the sound of his musical laughter in my ear. It was marvellous to hear his voice raised in happiness rather than misery. As for me, I felt more like Bella than I had done in years, no longer the cold, distant creature that I had become. I had been accepted once more by the people I loved as siblings and parents, reunited with Edward, and no one dreamed of demanding that in exchange I sacrifice my small family.

To my deep dismay it was soon morning and we could no longer put off the task of investigating Forks. So, bidding the rest of the family to be careful, I cast my mental shield over myself, Jasper and Edward and began the short run into town. The journey was made considerably longer by Edward's need to stop every dozen paces to kiss me or touch my cheek, until Jasper finally tired of this and dampened our hot emotions. Edward grumbled quietly under his breath for the rest of the trip.

The streets were empty when we reached town. Confused, I glanced at my watch thinking that perhaps we had arrived too early, but it was almost ten o'clock on a Saturday morning. Exchanging wary glances, we pushed forwards. Eventually we came across a cluster of shops and scented hot, rushing blood. We peered in through the front windows, past the shabby, outdated displays, and glimpsed our first humans. The shopkeeper, a man of about forty, stood with a rigid back, staring straight forwards. A girl in her late teens, his only customer, held a bottle of shampoo in her hand. At first I thought she was scanning the writing on the back, but at second glance realised that she was gazing fixedly at one point.

"Can you hear them?" I whispered to Edward.

"No. Well, I can, but…" He trailed off, his brow crinkling in confusion and frustration. "It's like I'm listening to them from a great distance. I can't make out individual thoughts, but I can hear the stream rumbling by."

"There's something strange about their emotions, too," said Jasper. "They're not complex enough to be human. They feel more like animals."

Worried now, we continued down the row of shops, looking into every window. Every human we saw was the same. In different positions, but the same blank expressions, the same unnerving stillness. In the final shop we encountered a shock: Mike Newton, far older than I remembered him, frozen in the act of reaching for a carton of milk.

I was beginning to wonder how we would ever discover whether the vampires camped at La Push were the Volturi or the Brotherhood. Obviously they had tampered with the humans, but with their minds and emotions so difficult to decipher it was impossible to discover anything more. In Mike, however, I saw my chance. Perhaps the reappearance of the long dead Isabella Swan would shock him out of his daze and I would have a chance to question him. It was risky, true, but I didn't see any other option.

"You have to leave," I ordered Edward and Jasper.

"What?" demanded Edward, shocked. "Why?"

I explained my plan about Mike, but Edward shook his head. "It's too risky. He thinks you have been dead and buried for twenty years, Bella. You could give him heart attack!"

"I'll say that Renee and Phil had a daughter, and I'm Bella's sister visiting Forks to see her grave. I'll ask for directions."

Edward began to protest but Jasper silenced him with a shake of his head. "It's the only plan we have, Edward. But why do we have to leave?"

"I might be able to say I'm my sister but I won't be able to pass you two off as your own sons as well, and I won't be able to concentrate enough to maintain the shield covering you."

"I don't like leaving you on your own," said Edward.

"There's nothing else we can do. If there's any sign of danger then I can put the shield back up and run home."

Edward looked like he would like to argue, but Jasper grasped him firmly by the arm and began to pull him away. Warning me to be watchful and run at the first sign of danger, he kissed me briefly before turning and loping away with his brother. I gave them a few minutes, more than they needed, to reach the house before letting my shield disappear. Taking an entirely unnecessary but nevertheless calming breath, I pushed the door open and stepped into the shop.

Neither the woman behind the counter nor Mike glanced up when the bell above the door tinkled quietly. It was a fact of a vampire's life that humans' eyes followed you through rooms and streets, startled by your inhuman beauty and the grace of your movements, but the woman seemed to look right through me. As I moved away from the door her eyes remained fixed on the space I had just vacated. Chilled, I tore my eyes away from her and turned my attention to Mike.

I had told Edward and Jasper that I would lie to Mike about my identity but I didn't think that would be enough to jolt him from his catatonic state, so instead I murmured, "Mike? It's me, Bella. Bella Swan. I went to school with you. Do you remember?"

Nothing. No flinch of fear, no terrified cry. He blinked once, far too slowly even for a human, and then there was no more movement. As I continued to call his name I reflected that of all the things I had seen since discovering vampires, and I had been witness to many terrifying events, nothing had ever chilled me quite like this. There was something unnatural about Mike's stillness, as if someone had stolen something essential from him and in doing so had robbed him of his humanity.

I persisted for a few more minutes before reluctantly accepting that there was no way of rousing Mike. But I couldn't leave him like that, frozen as he reached forwards. So with infinite care, aware that I could crush his bones as easily as blinking, I grasped his arm and returned it to a more natural position. As I moved it his unbuttoned shirt sleeve fell back, and I glimpsed a shiny white scar on his forearm. Rolling his sleeve back, I found several more. Leaving Mike, I hurried over to the woman behind the counter and turned her arms over, bruising her wrists in my haste. The same scars littered her skin.

Suddenly I knew what was happening. Although the scars hadn't been caused by teeth I was certain that the Brotherhood lay behind them. The Brotherhood dreamed of a world where vampires moved in the open and humans were forced into subservience as little more than cattle; clearly they had chosen Forks as the town in which to launch their project. I had no idea how they had dragged the humans into this state of confusion and I doubted I would ever find out. We would launch an attack on the camp the moment Bryce and Marcus arrived.

Turning, I ran from the shop and burst out into the street. The moment the door shut behind me, however, I found that I struggled to remember what I was doing and why. I knew that I was frightened and felt a sense of urgency, but as the seconds passed even those emotions faded. I stood motionless on the sidewalk, my hands hanging uselessly at my side.

"Oh my," said a silken voice in my ear. "This _is _my lucky day."

I knew that voice from somewhere but my mind was too sluggish to remember where from.

"After all these years of chasing you, Isabella, you walk right into our hands."

Isabella. Was that my name? I could no longer remember.

"What are we going to do with her?" asked a new, different voice.

"Get Eleanor and the chains and meet me at the cliff," the first one ordered.

Then I was being lifted, slung over a shoulder and the world was flying past me. All I could see was the steely sky because I had been placed on my back and couldn't summon the willpower to turn my head a few inches to the side. I couldn't say how long we ran for: time meant nothing to me. Eventually I was set on my feet and my captor stood in front of me. Although he was mere inches in front of me I couldn't say what colour his eyes and hair were. My eyes refused to focus.

Another passage of time and voices approached.

"Eleanor," said my captor with relief.

"What would you have me do with her?" asked a female voice.

"Nothing just yet. You!" he ordered sharply. "Put the chains on."

There was a clank of metal and then something cold and heavy wrapping around my legs. They began at my ankles and finished at my waist, making it impossible to move even if that ability hadn't been taken away from me. When my legs were covered my arms were pulled behind my back and restrained similarly.

"Good. Eleanor, I want it impossible for her to get out of those chains. Then I want her aware."

One clear thought penetrated the dense cloud surrounding my mind: I would never be able to break free of the chains that bound me. Even though I could crush metal to dust, I would be powerless against this binding. As soon as that thought was lodged in my mind, the world around me came back into sharp focus and I could think clearly again.

I knew the man – or rather, the vampire – who stood in front of me. Not by name, but by appearance. He had been in every Brotherhood attack against my family for the past thirteen years, the one who had always managed to slip away from us before we could kill him. Now he smiled at me almost politely. "It's such a shame," he murmured. "A criminal waste. If only you had joined us when you had the chance. Goodbye, Isabella."

He placed his foot in the middle of my chest and pushed. I soared from the cliff edge and plummeted to the grey water below. I had begun to struggle before I hit the water, but as I broke the surface my struggles increased tenfold. It was all no use. I knew that I should be able to break the chains as easily as snapping a twig, but I might as well have been as weak as a human. That vampire, Eleanor, had done something to me, just as she had presumably hypnotised the humans of Forks.

Terrifying thoughts flew through my mind. My family wouldn't leave without me and the Brotherhood would be searching for them, expecting me to be accompanied by Marcus, Bryce and Billy. Without my shielding ability they stood no chance against the Brotherhood's far superior numbers. They would be torn apart. Then Marcus and Bryce, and perhaps Rose and Emmett, would arrive to help us and would also be killed.

I don't know how long I lay there in the dark water, sobbing uselessly and screaming with rage, but eventually I became aware of the fact that I was no longer alone. I thought it was one of the Brotherhood come to torture me, and I readied myself to fend them off as best I could, but instead the chains trapping me were ripped away and my arms and legs were free once more. A hand slipped into mine and began to drag me back to the surface. I looked into the face of my rescuer and in that moment knew that somehow I had died, because what I was seeing was impossible.


	12. From the Grave

**Chapter Eleven: From the Grave**

**Edward's Point of View**

I wasn't happy about leaving Bella alone in Forks, and the moment she disappeared from sight I slowed my pace, my resolve weakening. If Jasper hadn't been there I would have turned and gone back to her. But he was at my side the moment he felt my fear for her, reminding me that this was the best – the _only_ – plan we had, and my sudden, unexpected return could draw her attention away from the task at hand and put her in danger. Even then, convinced that I could conceal myself from the humans, I nearly returned, but a wave of calm washed over me. I couldn't even muster the anger required to glare at Jasper. By the time the effects of his power had worn off, we were back at home and my brother, with a small smile, told me that I might as well wait for Bella now.

When we returned Billy was awake and watching the television, while Esme was in the kitchen cooking him an omelette. Apparently he had already eaten his way through a plate of bacon and eggs and was still hungry, and Esme was more than happy to provide him with whatever he wanted. Out of all of us Esme was the one coping best with the return to Forks and the threat that lurked at La Push. She loved me and my siblings as children and no one would ever replace us in her heart, but caring for a living, breathing human with needs was the closest she would ever come to her dream of having children. Although Billy had seemed uncomfortable with her at first, they had quickly developed a close friendship.

The smell of the omelette was abhorrent to me, but Billy beamed at Esme when she presented him with the food and immediately began shovelling it into his mouth. I took a seat next to Carlisle while Jasper settled himself next to Alice. Billy had grown up in a family of vampires but Bella had tried to ensure that his childhood was as normal as possible, and so while he stayed with us we observed human rituals. He smiled around at us as we sat down.

"Hey guys," he said, displaying a mouthful of half chewed eggs. "Where's Bells?"

"In town," replied Jasper smoothly, noticing my jaw tense at the question.

Billy frowned, his fork pausing halfway in its journey to his mouth. "In town? I thought she was going to take me?"

"She is taking you, but she wants to check out the town and make sure it's safe first," said Jasper.

He rolled his eyes and resumed eating. "Sounds like Bells. When will she be back?"

"Within the hour."

But she wasn't. Midday came and went with no sign of Bella. By the time four hours had elapsed and she still hadn't returned I wasn't the only one who was worried. My family concealed their concern well, not wanting to alarm Billy, but small signs gave away their anxiety. Esme was unable to sit still, constantly rising from her seat to push aside the curtain and gaze out into the forest. Alice kept scrunching up her eyes, trying to force herself to see a vision of the future that wouldn't come because of Billy's presence. Finally Carlisle mentally asked me to step out of the room and up to his office.

"What happened in town?" he asked the moment we were away from the others. Mindful of Billy's advanced hearing, his voice was low.

I explained about the unusual behaviour of the humans, how their minds didn't function normally, rendering it impossible for us to glean anything useful from their thoughts and emotions. I told him of Bella's plan to learn something from Mike Newton, and that that plan wouldn't allow her to talk to Mike and shield us, forcing us to leave her alone. I spoke quickly and quietly, and by the time I fell silent Carlisle wore a deep frown.

"She should have been back by now. I can't imagine that she is still talking to Mike, although she may still be investigating the other humans. It is a possibility that she has been taken by the vampires at La Push."

"We have to look for her," I said urgently.

Carlisle nodded his agreement. "But we must wait until it gets darker. If she is in no danger then we will do her no favours by running around in the sunlight, and we'll draw both human and vampire attention to us."

I wanted to argue, to begin my search for her now, but I knew that Carlisle was right. By exposing myself as unnatural I could put her in even more danger, and risked leading the other vampires to Billy. No matter what my good intentions I knew she would never forgive me if I endangered him. Carlisle agreed with me that we shouldn't tell Billy that Bella might be in danger. From what I had seen since meeting him, both in his behaviour and mind, I knew he would risk his own life to save her, and we were responsible for his wellbeing until Bella returned. We would wait until sunset and then tell him that I, along with Jasper and Alice, needed to hunt. Carlisle and Esme would remain with him.

The hours between our decision to search for Bella and sunset were painfully slow. It became more difficult to remain in my seat with each passing minute. I knew it made more sense to wait until the sky was dark to begin our hunt, but that didn't prevent the awful feeling, slowly becoming a certainty, that Bella was hurt and her life at risk, and each second I remained comfortably in my home was a betrayal of her.

I passed the time by circulating the plan through the others, walking out of the room and giving a tiny indication for one of them to follow me. Billy remained blissfully unaware of the tension and fear in the room, barely glancing up at twilight as, I, followed by Jasper and Alice, rose to my feet, announcing that I needed to hunt. We swiftly left the house and ran until we were certain we were out of earshot before stopping to discuss our plan.

Jasper and Alice, unwilling to separate, would search the larger, more dangerous town. I would search the forest and the borders of La Push, using my power to look into the vampires' minds for glimpses of Bella.

Although I searched until dawn, I found no sign of Bella. My first stop was La Push. I slunk around the borders, searching mind after mind for Bella's name or face. When I found no knowledge of her in their thoughts I was heartened, but as I continued to search the forest with no luck and had no word from Jasper and Alice my newfound confidence began to slip away. In desperation I returned to the shop in which we had stumbled across Mike Newton hours earlier and broke in. No trace of Bella's scent lingered. Even outside, where we had stood looking through the window, with my supernaturally sensitive nose pressed to the ground, I couldn't smell her.

It was as if she had vanished off the face of the earth, and someone had eradicated all signs of her existence.

I met Jasper and Alice, a mile away from our house, as the sun was rising. Their faces were grim. They too were no closer to finding Bella. Alice, however, did have a new acquisition: a small bundle wrapped carefully in several plastic bags, and sealed tight with layers of tape. When she noticed my raised eyebrows and pointed look, she said, "If we're going to have any hope of finding her then we need Carlisle and Esme to help."

"And why do we need the bag?" I asked.

She smiled secretively and led us back to the house. There followed another torturous day of waiting, most of which Esme and Alice spent secluded together, discussing Alice's plan in voices too fast for even us to understand. They emerged from Alice and Jasper's bedroom an hour before sunset and bundled Billy into the shower. While Esme ordered him to scrub himself vigorously, Alice opened her package to reveal a set of new clothes.

"We need to leave Billy on his own," she explained. "But if the vampires at La Push come within a mile of him, they'll smell a werewolf. Hence the shower and the new clothes."

I was sceptical; it was difficult to believe that a shower and a change of clothes could mask the scent that burned my nostrils daily. But once Billy had donned his new clothes and been escorted to the dilapidated cottage behind our house, Esme and Alice began their real work. They took handfuls of soil and leaves, rubbing them into his skin and hair until he was barely recognisable beneath the dirt. Despite his protests and then disgruntled silence, it achieved the desired affect: the smell of werewolf was disguised almost completely by the rich scent of fresh earth. A vampire would have to be standing within a few feet to realise what he was.

We had decided already that we would begin our search at La Push, as Bella's complete disappearance had led us to believe that she had crossed the path of the vampires residing there. Although we would cover more ground by splitting up, we had decided to stick together in the interests of safety. If we happened across a patrol it would be far easier to despatch them as a group rather than in pairs or individually. The last thing we needed was a stray vampire escaping to warn his masters of our presence. Warning an angry Billy not to stray from the cottage, we slowly made our way towards the vampire camp.

We were nearing La Push when it happened. My fear for Bella, my need to find her, which had been present since she had failed to return, seemed to float away from me. I could no longer remember why I had been scared, or why I had been running as fast as my body would allow. To love and worry about Bella was as natural to me as breathing was to humans, and yet it didn't seem strange that I no longer cared what had happened to her. I slowed to a walk, and the halted altogether. I didn't have the willpower to turn my head and look at my family, but I could hear them coming to a stop with me. If I had been capable of rational thought I would have understood that their lack of questions, or any kind of speech, meant that they had fallen under the same spell that had entranced me.

I felt an overpowering urge to lie down. Giving into that need, I lowered myself onto the cool forest floor. A rustle of leaves indicated that the others were doing the same. A moment of silence, which could have lasted a second or an hour, and then footsteps approached us. I couldn't muster the energy to raise my head, but when our visitor laughed it was clear that she was female.

"I _will _be richly rewarded for this," she sighed happily. "So many are just falling into my traps."

Her voice was happy and undeniably smug, but when she spoke again the self congratulatory tone had drained away. _"You!" _she cried, horrified. "But I-"

She wasn't given the chance to finish. A low, vicious growl interrupted her. She uttered a terrified scream and I heard her retreat from us, but, with an enormous crash, she was brought to the ground. Then came the sound of grisly snapping, and the heat of a sudden fire. The moment the flames sprang into life I was free from the power that had confounded my mind. I scrambled to my feet, my family, shaking their heads clear, doing the same.

To my immense relief, the first person I saw was Bella. She stood, dripping wet, next to Bryce, both of them staring down at the vampire they had found. Marcus was a few paces behind with a female vampire I had never met before, as well as Emmett and Rose, who hurried forward to check that we were alright.

But I wasn't paying attention to them. I wasn't even paying attention to Bella. The only person I had eyes for was the man standing next to her, a comforting hand on her shoulder. It was impossible: I knew he was dead. But there Charlie stood, his pale skin and golden eyes gleaming in the firelight.


	13. Charlie's Death and Afterlife

Sorry about the enormous delay, I had an awful lot of trouble writing this chapter. I hope there are still some people reading this.

**Chapter Twelve: Charlie's Death and Afterlife **

**Edward's Point of View**

Charlie's eyes bored into mine. Although I could read no expression in them, I knew enough to understand that it wasn't because he was calm. Far from it: there was a storm brewing behind those unreadable eyes that was almost tangible. Before I could speak, before I could even look away, I felt a powerful force reach out and wrap its tendrils around my mind. It was similar to the sensation I had felt during Bella's flood of memories in the forest, but instead of having something forced into my mind, I was being pulled into someone else's. I had time to wonder whether this was a talent particular to Bella's family before I was drawn into Charlie's mind and his memories.

I recognised what used to be Bella's kitchen.

Charlie sat at the table, staring fixedly at a newspaper. His eyes were unmoving and the expression he wore was far too grave for the sports section. He sipped at his hitherto untouched mug of coffee, grimaced when he realised it was cold, and glanced at his watch. Glowering, he heaved himself out of his seat and reached for the phone. I recognised the numbers he punched in as Renée's.

"Hi," he said awkwardly after a pause of a few seconds. "Sorry to bother you, but-"

He fell silent as Renée interrupted him. I couldn't decipher her words, but her frantic tone was all too evident.

"No, it's nothing like that," he hurried to reassure her. "She hasn't been out of her room all day. Do you think I should check on her? I don't want her to feel crowded, but…"

He trailed off, letting the concern in his voice speak for itself. Renée's relieved laugh echoed down the phone, and this time I heard her say that a teenage girl locking herself in her bedroom was perfectly normal behaviour. I glanced at the shaft of sunlight filtering through the curtains and felt for the first time that something was wrong. It was the rich, warm light of a sunset. Bella wasn't the type of girl to hide in her room for a whole day. Even if she was sad or ill, she would emerge at least a couple of times to reassure Charlie that she was feeling better than she truly was.

Charlie clearly felt the same way because he scowled and said, "But Bell's never been a normal teenage girl, has she?" He dropped his voice to a murmur, as if afraid of being overheard. "She's been acting strangely all week. Not like that, not like _before_. She's really come out of herself ever since she started hanging round with Jake, but the-"

Renée's excited voice broke in, inquiring about the possibility of romance. Despite knowing that the man in question had gone on to marry and have a child with someone else, and despite having no right to Bella's love, having abandoned her to Victoria, I felt an unreasonable stab of jealousy.

"_I don't know," _said Charlie, clearly frustrated with Renée's inattention. "What I'm trying to tell you is she's seemed – I don't know – almost scared for the past few days."

If my heart hadn't stopped beating decades before it would have frozen. Of course Bella was scared; she was being hunted by a vampire bent on revenge. Was I witnessing a scene from the last hours of her mortal life? Engulfed by panic, I missed Renée's response.

"You're probably right," said Charlie self consciously. "I'll leave her be. She'll come out when she's ready. Thanks for your help."

Charlie replaced the receiver and made to resume his seat at the table. He paused, staring at his newspaper and then at the doorway, clearly torn between whether to follow Renée's advice and leave Bella alone and his desire to make sure that she was alright. Against all reason I wanted him to check on her, but I also knew that there was no changing the past and Bella couldn't be saved. If this was the memory of the day of her 'death' then what awaited Charlie in her room would only cause him pain.

His instinct that something was wrong won through and he climbed the stairs. He tapped lightly on Bella's door and received no reply.

"Bella?" he called quietly. "Can I come in?"

Still no reply. He knocked louder and called again, "Bella?"

When his only answer was continuing silence, he pushed open the door.

The scene was worse than I could possibly have imagined and, in my need to punish myself, I had forced myself to picture this moment in minute detail time after time. The bed sheets were soaked in blood, more blood than a human could lose and possibly survive without being rushed to a hospital. Some of them had been torn into strips and tied to the bedposts; I realised with an icy stab of horror that they had been used to bind Bella. At the foot of the bed, almost unrecognisable, was one of her shirts, mangled and bloodied.

Meeting Bella had incalculably increased the depth of my emotions. Loving her was ecstasy, the closest I would ever come to knowing something divine. But with this joy came a violent grief at her pain and at being parted from her. After leaving Forks, hiding from my family, no longer knowing or even caring what country I was in, I had known that the agony of a hundred transformations was little compared to my suffering at our separation. Standing at her graveside, I realised that before that moment I hadn't known true pain.

Witnessing the scene of her torture and the end of her mortal life surpassed everything that had come before. The pain was physical: it began in the pit of my stomach and seeped upwards until its icy fingers were wrapped around my throat and I was choking. I was certain that I could not survive it. I had to get out of this terrible memory. I had to wrap my arms around Bella, look into those black eyes that seemed almost ancient, and reassure myself that although I could no longer hear the steady thud of her heart she was still alive.

Then I saw Charlie's face.

He didn't weep. He didn't flinch. He didn't even cry for help. He merely stood, too frozen to sway even an inch. But in his face I saw the realisation of fears he hadn't conjured in his darkest nightmares. I had thought, stupidly, selfishly, that no one could match my grief at Bella's death, that no one's sorrow could surpass mine. But in Charlie's memory I witnessed the irrevocable breaking of a man's heart, and I knew why he was forcing these images into my mind. Somehow he had learned that I had abandoned Bella, that I had left her to Victoria's mercy, and this was my punishment.

I no longer thought of leaving. I deserved this.

The scene melted away and the bedroom was replaced with a cemetery. A small group of people clustered around an open grave. I picked out Mike, Angela and Jessica amongst some teenagers from school, Renée leaning heavily against a man who I presumed was her husband, and finally, his face an unreadable sheet of rock, Charlie. His eyes were dry, and I knew, whether from instinct or some knowledge passed on to me by Charlie, that he hadn't cried for Bella. There could be no outlet, no words or expression, for his grief at the loss of his only child.

Heavy drops of rain began to fall from the sky, and for once I found myself wishing that the sun would break through the clouds. Bella had always preferred light and warmth before I taught her to long for darkness. They should have been able to honour her memory in the sun.

When told to, Charlie scooped up a handful of loose earth and threw it into the grave. It rained onto the coffin with an almost hollow sound, which, of course, it was. They had never found Bella's body because there had been nothing to find. The werewolves had taken her, nursed her through her transformation and then hidden her at La Push. Charlie and Renée were left to bury a coffin that contained not the remains of their daughter, but some of the possessions that she had come to love during her short life.

The cemetery disappeared and we were back at Bella's house. I had no idea how much time had elapsed between the two memories. Charlie was slumped on the couch staring at the television, but he wore the same expression as when he was reading the newspaper: his mind was somewhere else. I heard the tiniest of creaks, but although Charlie didn't pay it any heed, I recognised it as the front door opening. The sky outside was black: who could be visiting in the middle of the night?

There was a loud crack as the stranger smashed something heavy into Charlie's head, and then everything went dark. In the next memory Charlie was no longer human. He was pinned to the floor by four large vampires, and they were struggling to control him. His scarlet eyes blazed with anger and desperation.

Another vampire, clearly in charge of the four currently restraining him, stood calmly next to his head.

"I know you are hungry," he said, his voice soothing and sympathetic. "We will willingly bring you food, but first you have to agree to help us."

"Never," snarled Charlie.

"Don't you want to find your daughter?" asked the other vampire reasonably. "I would have thought that, having discovered that she still lives, reuniting with her would be your first priority."

"I won't lead you to her! I won't let you hurt her!" shouted Charlie.

"'Hurt her'?" repeated the vampire, sounding almost hurt. "Of course I won't hurt her! I merely wish to offer her the opportunity to join us. She would benefit greatly from such an arrangement. The Brotherhood offers wealth and companionship, and would shelter her from those who wish to harm her. _You _can ensure her safety, Charlie. She is _your_ daughter; no one knows better than you how she thinks or where she would go. Find her for us, Charlie, and we will take care of her."

"And if she doesn't want to join you?" demanded Charlie.

The vampire shrugged and spread his hands. "She is, of course, free to refuse our offer."

I could see that Charlie didn't believe him. He knew as well as I did that these were not the sort of people you could refuse: either Bella joined them or they would take steps to ensure that she would never work against them. I expected him to rage against the vampire and say that he would never help them. Instead all of the fight seemed to leave him. He slumped against the floor, no longer struggling against the four sets of hands pinning him down. "Fine," he said, his jaw clenched. "I'll do whatever you want."

A slow smile spread over the vampire's face. "Excellent," he murmured. He gestured to a female vampire, leaning, arms crossed over her chest, against the wall, who had gone unnoticed until that point. "Get the food," he ordered.

The scene changed again, and this time I found myself in a room I had never seen before. The curtains had been thrown open and bright sunlight streamed inside. It bounced off Charlie's unnaturally white skin, making it glint and flash like highly polished silver. The other occupant of the room was a trembling woman, hand clamped over her mouth as she shook her head: Renée. She finally pulled herself together enough to whisper, "So it's true?"

"Yes," said Charlie quietly.

"But I buried you!" she cried.

"No, you buried an empty coffin, the same as we did at Bella's funeral."

This made her pause, her breath catching in her throat. "Bella's really still alive?" she asked, hope creeping into her voice.

"Yes, and I'm going to find her."

"But _vampires,_ Charlie?" she said, returning to the impossible story he had presented her with. "They're not real, they only exist in stories!"

"You've seen with your own eyes that they _are _real," protested Charlie, waving his arm and making the skin glimmer in the sunlight. "You have to believe me – your life is in danger if you don't."

Renée nodded, absorbing this statement. When she spoke again the breathless quality of her voice that had been evident since the start of their conversation had disappeared. "What do you want me to do? I can help-"

"No!" he interrupted. "It's far too dangerous for a human. You and Phil need to pack your things and leave as soon as possible. You need to go to Volturra, in Italy."

Her eyes widened. "_Italy? _I can't move to Italy!"

"You have to, Renée!" Charlie almost shouted, clearly frustrated that she had failed to grasp the danger she was in. "When I disappear the vampires are going to look for another way to find Bella. They turned me into one of them because I'm her father and the best chance they had of tracking her down. When they lose me they'll come after you."

"But why Italy, of all places?"

"Not just Italy, it _has _to be Volterra. An ancient organisation of vampires lives there. I don't have time to explain everything, but they enforce the rules of our world and prevent humans discovering our existence. The Brotherhood – the vampires who will be coming after you – won't dare attack you in their city."

"Well I've always wanted to visit Italy," she said after a long pause, smiling weakly.

Charlie returned her smile with a strained grin of his own. "Thank you. I won't contact you again after tonight, it's too dangerous. The next time you hear from me will be when I have Bella."

As Charlie turned to leave Renée whispered, "Stay safe and look after her."

Without warning Charlie released his grip on my mind. I was back in the forest, surrounded by the low murmurings of my family as they were reunited with Emmett and Rosalie. No one looked at me strangely or gave any indication that they were aware that something out of the ordinary had just taken place. I couldn't have spent more than a few seconds in Charlie's memory, although it had felt like hours.

Carlisle disengaged himself from the others and shook Charlie's hand warmly. "It's good to see you, Charlie," he said. "I assume there's a long and interesting story behind how you came to be here?"

Charlie smiled tightly. "Yes, but I think it will have to wait until the hoard of hostile vampires are dealt with."

"Indeed it will," Carlisle laughed. "Right, everyone, we need to discuss the plan…"

Everyone gathered around to hear him speak. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bella pause, casting a curious look first at her father and then at me. She, at least, knew something of what had just happened.


End file.
